Raven’s Work in Tlingit Ethno-geography

Chapter in the publication: Holton, Gary and Thomas F.Thornton. (Eds.) Language and Toponymy in Alaska and Beyond: Papers in Honor of James Kari. Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication no. 17. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.Ye

Introduction: James Kari's contributions to geolinguistics

National Foreign Language Resource Cente

The Idea of Climate Change as a Belief System: Why Climate Activism Resembles a Religious Movement

The idea of climate change has been enforced by its similarities with belief systems. It may come as a surprise to scientists, the media and climate activists participating in climate change discussions that they are unconsciously following models rooted in belief systems. These models include an emphasis on existential anxiety and the public expression of commitments. The discussions around the severity of climate change and individual sacrifices through everyday moral choices, however, show that addressing climate change may require a shift of focus from political leadership to more grassroots activism

Human adaptation to biodiversity change: An adaptation process approach applied to a case study from southern India

Adaptation to environmental change, including biodiversity change, is both a new imperative in the face of global climate change and the oldest problem in human history. Humans have evolved a wide range of adaptation strategies in response to localised environmental changes, which have contributed strongly to both biological and cultural diversity. The evolving set of locally driven, ‘bottom-up’ responses to environmental change is collectively termed ‘autonomous adaptation,’ while its obverse, ‘planned adaptation,’ refers to ‘top-down’ (from without, e.g. State-driven) responses. After reviewing the dominant vulnerability, risk, and pathway approaches to adaptation, this paper applies an alternative framework for understanding human adaptation processes and responding more robustly to future adaptation needs. This adaptation processes-to-pathways framework is then deployed to consider human responses to biodiversity change caused by an aggressive ‘invasive’ plant, Lantana camara L., in several agri-forest communities of southern India. The results show that a variety of adaptation processes are developing to make Lantana less disruptive and more useable—from avoidance through mobility strategies to utilizing the plant for economic diversification. However, there is currently no clear synergy or policy support to connect them to a successful long-term adaptation pathway. These results are evaluated in relation to broader trends in adaptation analysis and governance to suggest ways of improving our understanding and support for human adaptation to biodiversity change at the household, community, and regional livelisystem levels, especially in societies highly dependent on local biodiversity for their livelihoods

Indigenous uses of wild and tended plant biodiversity maintain ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes of the Terai Plains of Nepal

BACKGROUND: Despite a rapidly accumulating evidence base quantifying ecosystem services, the role of biodiversity in the maintenance of ecosystem services in shared human-nature environments is still understudied, as is how indigenous and agriculturally dependent communities perceive, use, and manage biodiversity. The present study aims to document traditional ethnobotanical knowledge of the ecosystem service benefits derived from wild and tended plants in rice-cultivated agroecosystems, compare this to botanical surveys, and analyze the extent to which ecosystem services contribute social-ecological resilience in the Terai Plains of Nepal. METHOD: Sampling was carried out in four landscapes, 22 Village District Committees, and 40 wards in the monsoon season. Data collection was based on transects walks to collect plant specimens, structured and semi-structured interviews, and participatory fieldwork in and around home gardens, farms, and production landscapes. We asked 180 farmers to free-list vernacular names and describe use-value of wild and tended plants in rice-cultivated agroecosystems. Uses were categorized into eight broad groupings, and 61 biomedical ailment classifications. We assessed if knowledge of plant species diversity and abundance differed with regard to caste, age, and gender. RESULTS: Nepalese farmers have a deep knowledge of the use and management of the 391 vascular plant specimens identified, which provide key provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural ecosystem services. Altogether, plants belong to 76 distinct plant species from 49 phylogenetic families: 56 are used to cure 61 ailments, 27 for rituals, 25 for food, 20 for timber, 17 for fuel, 17 for fodder, 11 for soil enhancement, and eight for pesticides. Four caste groups have statistically different knowledge, and younger informants report a lower average number of useful plants. CONCLUSION: Agricultural landscapes in Nepal are reservoirs of biodiversity. The knowledge of the use of wild and tended plant species in and around these farms differs by the caste and age group of land manager. Conducting research on agroecosystems will contribute to a deeper understanding of how nature is perceived by locals, to more efficient management and conservation of the breadbasket of Nepal, and to the conservation of valuable, but disappearing traditional knowledge and practice

Deconstructing Local Adaptation Plans for Action (LAPAs) - Analysis of Nepal and Pakistan LAPA initiatives

This paper analyses the organizational and implementation design strategies of two ongoing Local Adaptation Plan for Action (LAPA) initiatives in Nepal and Pakistan. LAPA is considered an answer for institutionalized local-level adaptation planning that aims to capture local needs and direct resources to where, when and by whom these are most needed. While both Nepal and Pakistan LAPAs have similar objectives of bottom-up planning, the operational and structural designs of the two LAPAs are very distinct, leading to different outcomes. Different internal and external factors such as age and size of LAPA, technology, local institutional arrangements, core process and environment also exert significant structural tensions on the planned organizational design of LAPAs that may inhibit delivery of their objectives

Maritime Alpine Cairns in Southeast Alaska: A Multidisciplinary Exploratory Study

This report describes the goals, data recovery methods, data analysis, and conclusions of a pilot project “A Multidisciplinary Exploratory Study of Alpine Cairns, Baranof Island, Southeast Alaska,” funded by the National Science Foundation under Project No. 1230132. The project brought together experts in the disciplines of archaeology (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), lichenology (Oregon State University), and Tlingit oral history (Oxford University) to address questions regarding artificial prehistoric, high altitude cairns. Data were collected in 2013 and 2014. Pedestrian archaeological inventory recorded 50 cairns at 5 sites. Archaeological data includes cairn dimensions, GPS positions, still photographic images, and video documentation. Four cairns were selected for excavation/dismantlement based on their morphology and lichen growth. No artifacts occurred within, under, or around the excavated cairns. Radiocarbon (AMS) analysis of collected organic materials and lichenometrics indicate that alpine cairns on Cross Peak are prehistoric and built within the last two millennia. In 2014, a helicopter survey was undertaken over Chichagof Island mountains along the lower reaches of Hoonah Sound. This survey identified 39 cairns at 29 sites demonstrating that alpine cairns occur in abundance on Baranof and Chichagof Islands. Physical, historical, and oral history points to construction of the cairns by ancestors of the Tlingit and, more specifically, by ancestors of Sitka and Kootznoowoo tribes

Farming along desire lines: Collective action and food systems adaptation to climate change.

1. We examine collective action in the food system of the Canadian Maritimes to determine its effect on the resilience and adaptive capacity of food producers, distributors, retailers and governance institutions. 2. Our data suggest that beyond their immediate benefits for their participants, expressions of collective action generate higher-level impacts which often translate into drivers of adaptive capacity. 3. Drawing on a metaphor from urban design, we suggest that collective action should be considered a desire line for food systems adaptation: rather than building adaptation strategies based on top-down design, collective action emerges from farmers’ needs and capacities to build financial resilience, enhance human and social capital and strengthen institutional agency within the system.Acknowledgements: The authors express their deep gratitude to all the participants who volunteered their precious time, expertise, and kindness to this research. Thanks to the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet nations, on whose unceded territory the Climate Resilience on Maritime Farms project takes place. Thanks as well to the friends at Community Forests International and the McGill Land and Food Lab, who provided companionship and workspace; and to Günther Grill and Penny Beames, for the GIS help. Thanks to the Rhodes Trust (UK) and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation (Canada) for their unwavering support of B.S.Ye