Chapter 7: Food Security and Food Production Systems
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7.5. Adaptation and Managing Risks in Agriculture and Other Food System Activities
7.5.1. Adaptation Needs and Gaps Based on Assessed Impacts and Vulnerabilities
7.5.1.1. Methods of Treating Impacts in Adaptation Studies—Incremental to Transformational
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7.5.1.1.4. Indigenous knowledge
Indigenous knowledge (IK) has developed to cope with climate hazards contributing to food security in many parts of the world. Examples in the Americas include Alaska, where the Inuit knowledge of climate variability ensured the source of food to hunters and reduced various risks (Alessa et al., 2008; Ford, 2009; Weatherhead et al., 2010) down to the southern Andes,where the Inca traditions of crop diversification, genetic diversity,raised bed cultivation, agroforestry, weather forecasting, and water harvesting are still used in agriculture (Goodman-Elgar, 2008; Renard et al., 2011; McDowell and Hess, 2012;see also Sections 9.4.3.1, 27.3.4.2). In Africa, weather forecasting, diversity of crops and agropastoralism strategies have been useful in the Sahel (Nyong et al., 2007). Rainwater harvesting has been a common practice in sub-Saharan Africa (Biazin et al., 2012) to cope with dry spells and improve crop productivity,while strategies from agropastoralists in Kenya are related to drought forecasting based on the fauna, flora, moon, winds, and other factors (Speranza et al., 2010). In South Africa, farmers’ early warming indicators of wet or dry periods in Namibia based on animals, plants, and climate observations contributed to deal with climatic variability (Newsham and Thomas, 2011). In the same way, in Asia and Australia IK plays an important role to ensure food security of certain groups (Salick and Ross, 2009; Green et al., 2010; Marin, 2010; Speranza et al., 2010; Kalanda-Joshua et al., 2011; Pareek and Trivedi, 2011; Biazin et al., 2012), although IK and the opportunities to implement it can differ according to gender and age in some communities (Rengalakshmi, 2007; Turner and Clifton, 2009; Kalanda-Joshua et al., 2011; see also Section 9.3.5), leading to distinct adaptive capacities and options.
7.5.1.3. Observed and Expected Barriers and Limits to Adaptation
Adaptation is strongly influenced by factors including institutional, technological, informational, and economic and there can be barriers (restrictions that can be addressed) and limits in all these factors (robust evidence, high agreement; Chapters 14, 15, 16). Several barriers to adaptation of food systems have been raised including inadequate information on the climate and climate impacts and on the risks and benefits of the adaptation options, lack of adaptive capacity, inadequate extension, institutional inertia,cultural acceptability, financialconstraints including access to credit, insufficient fertile land, infrastructure, lack of functioning markets, and insurance systems (Bryan et al., 2009; Deressa et al., 2009; Kabubo-Mariara, 2009; De Bruin and Dellink, 2011, Silvestri et al., 2012; see also Chapter 16). Limits to adaptation can occur for example where crop yields drop below the level required to sustain critical infrastructure such as sugar or rice mills (Park et al., 2012). In some cases, these can be effectively irreversible. Some studies have shown that access to climate information is not the principal limitation to improving decision making and it can result in perverse outcomes, increasing inequities and widening gender gaps (Coles and Scott, 2009).
