Climate change and adaptation to social-ecological change: the case of indigenous people and culture-based fisheries in
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Climate change and adaptation to social-ecological change: the case of indigenous people and culture-based fisheries in Sri Lanka Eranga K. Galappaththi 1 & James D. Ford 1 & Elena M. Bennett 1 Received: 25 June 2019 / Accepted: 6 April 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract
Rural coastal fishery systems in tropical island nations are undergoing rapid change. Using a case study from eastern Sri Lanka, this paper examines the ways in which indigenous Coastal-Vedda fishers experience and respond to such change. We conducted semistructured interviews (n = 74), focus group discussions (n = 17, 98 participants), and key informant interviews (n = 38) over a 2-year period (2016–2019). The changes that most Coastal-Vedda fishers experience are disturbance from Sri Lankan ethnic war, changes in climate and the frequency and severity of natural disasters, increased frequency of humanelephant conflicts, increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, and transformation of the Coastal-Vedda due to social modernisation. We used a resilience-based conceptual framework focusing on place, human agency, collective action and collaboration, institutions, indigenous and local knowledge systems, and learning to examine fishers’ responses to rapid changes. We identified three community-level adaptive strategies used by the CoastalVedda: adaptive institutions with a multi-level institutional structure that facilitates collective action and collaboration, the use of culture-based fisheries (CBF), and diversification of livelihoods. We also recognized four place-specific attributes that shaped community adaptations: cultural identity and worldviews, co-management of CBF, flexibility in choosing adaptive options, and indigenous and local knowledge systems and learning. These adaptive strategies and place-specific attributes provide new insights for scientists, policymakers, and communities in the region, enabling them to more effectively work together to support community adaptation. Keywords Adaptation . Coastal-Vedda . Culture-based fisheries . Aquaculture . Climate change . Sri Lanka . Resilience
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-02002716-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
* Eranga K. Galappaththi [email protected]
1
McGill University, 705-805 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 0B9, Canada
Climatic Change
1 Introduction While environmental change is global, its effects are felt most directly by local communities. Rural Coastal-Vedda communities in Sri Lanka are undergoing complex changes including climate change impacts (e.g., frequent extreme weather events leading to floods and droughts) (Esham and Garforth 2013; Truelove et al. 2015), civil war (1983–2009) (Aaronson 2016; Zoysa 2018), tsunami devastation (2004) (Lehman 2014), and globalization. These changes have profound impacts on Coastal-Vedda communities, altering their livelihoods, culture, and lifestyle, and creating risks and opportunities (Pellin
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