Merging science, traditional knowledge could benefit climate adaptation
Indigenous people’s knowledge is sought by a conservation and research organisation in Guyana to benefit local forest communities and learn about weather and climate change, reported Alertnet. Effects of climate change on tropical forests and savannah wetlands are being investigated by water experts. The research involvesactive participation from locals as well, and eventually, it could help strengthening their food and economic security. Weather stations monitor rainfall transitions, water quality and quantity as well.
“We are trying to establish what will happen in the event of big droughts or floods, the effects of El Nino/La Nina situations and other factors. It will affect the communities because their livelihoods come from farming and cassava growing. They know that lots of their crops are susceptible to flooding,” said Isabella Bovolo, resident scientist at the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development (IIC), an international organisation established in 1996 by the government of Guyana and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Sydney Allicock, an Amerindian community leader from North Rupununi stated: “You need both scientific and local understanding. Both sets of information could support the other for understanding more about how you could develop a system where all could survive.”