Paper short abstract:

Climate change is affecting Amazonian Indigenous communities, the ecosystem, & interactions between them, in significant ways. Adaptation is already occurring. Ethnographic & ecological methods are used to study these processes, and current & potential strategies for positive human-ecosystem adaptation. 

Paper long abstract:

The Amazon rainforest is a climate change hotspot, withimpacts already evident at local, regional and global scales. Whilst the ecosystem is undergoing change, numerous and diverse indigenous communities, with livelihoods and knowledge systems evolved through generations of close contact with the rainforest, are being forced to adapt. Like many indigenous communities worldwide, these are amongst the first and more severely affected by environmental change. Given the pace of change and the risk of loss of cultural and biological diversity, improvedunderstanding of these interactions is critical and urgent. 

This research project uses case studies from the Tacanacommunities of the Bolivian Amazon, to improve understanding of the human-environment interactions that support resilience to environmental change. The ecological-anthropological study focuses on perceptions of and responses to recent extreme events, such as the severe flood of 2014; changing rainfall patterns; rising temperatures; and changing interactions between these communities and their ecosystem. This work is corroborated with local climate and ecological data, to provide an interdisciplinary analysis of the situation. 

Research findings offer insights into factors important in supporting the resilience of these and similar communities,and their ecosystems. It uncovers the human-environment interactions important in supporting positive adaptation, with certain species identified as keystones for adaptation of the social-ecological system. Future challenges given the predicted acceleration in climate change impacts, and how positive adaptation can be supported in light of this, are considered. Finally, the potential significance of findings for understanding adaptation and resilience amongst human-ecological systems worldwide is considered.