Indigenous Adaptation – Not Passive Victims

Abstract

AbstractIndigenous peoples, despite being affected by climate change, are responding in diverse ways to implement various forms of adaptation. These adaptations build on ages old cultural knowledge and a historical tradition of responding to change. In this chapter, a range of these adaptations are presented, and we argue that Indigenous adaptation requires tailored and specific actions suitable to culturally identified places and peoples, both old and new. Further, we argue that Indigenous adaptation is not just a response to climate change but is part of wider responses engineered to also address the impacts of colonisation and other threats to Indigenous sovereignty. Far from being passive victims, Indigenous peoples are active in asserting their rights to a voice about how to address climate change, and as such we argue that old ways are the founding step for the cultivation of adaptations to meet socio-ecological and cultural responsibilities in these new days.