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Riverine fishers’ knowledge of extreme climatic events in the Brazilian Amazonia

BACKGROUND: Climate change is altering climate patterns, mainly increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme events with potentially serious impacts on natural resources and the people that use them. Adapting to such impacts will require the integration of scientific and local (folk) knowledge,...

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Autores principales: Camacho Guerreiro, Ana Isabel, Ladle, Richard J., da Silva Batista, Vandick
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5080777/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27784304
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13002-016-0123-x
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author Camacho Guerreiro, Ana Isabel
Ladle, Richard J.
da Silva Batista, Vandick
author_facet Camacho Guerreiro, Ana Isabel
Ladle, Richard J.
da Silva Batista, Vandick
author_sort Camacho Guerreiro, Ana Isabel
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Climate change is altering climate patterns, mainly increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme events with potentially serious impacts on natural resources and the people that use them. Adapting to such impacts will require the integration of scientific and local (folk) knowledge, especially the first-hand experiences and perceptions of resource users such as fishers. In this study, we identify how commercial riverine fishers in the Amazon remember extreme climatic events (flood and drought) and how they face the consequences of extreme events on fish availability. METHODS: Data were collected from the main Manaus fishery harbor between June and October of 2013. Semi-structured questionnaires and a historical timeline technique were used to gather data from artisanal commercial fishers. Fishers’ knowledge of extreme climate events was assessed by their “cultural consensus” for identification of event years and perceived impacts. Fishers’ responses were also compared to hydrological data to test their similarity. RESULTS: There was a high level of cultural consensus among fishers about extreme events years. They were able to identify four consecutive unusual droughts, between 2009 and 2012. Elevated levels of fish mortality and decreases in the fishery were perceived as consequences of the drought events, as well as, a reduction in fish size, and disappearance of some species. Extreme flood events were associated with greater difficulties accessing fishing grounds. CONCLUSIONS: Extreme climatic events (floods and droughts) were remembered, and the recent increase in their intensity and frequency was also perceived. Moreover, extreme climate event (mainly droughts) impacts on fishery resources were also observed. Such information is potentially valuable for educational programs to further improve adaptation of local Amazonian fishing communities to future climate change, e.g. increasing local ecological knowledge using learning material based on their perception.
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spelling pubmed-50807772016-10-31 Riverine fishers’ knowledge of extreme climatic events in the Brazilian Amazonia Camacho Guerreiro, Ana Isabel Ladle, Richard J. da Silva Batista, Vandick J Ethnobiol Ethnomed Research BACKGROUND: Climate change is altering climate patterns, mainly increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme events with potentially serious impacts on natural resources and the people that use them. Adapting to such impacts will require the integration of scientific and local (folk) knowledge, especially the first-hand experiences and perceptions of resource users such as fishers. In this study, we identify how commercial riverine fishers in the Amazon remember extreme climatic events (flood and drought) and how they face the consequences of extreme events on fish availability. METHODS: Data were collected from the main Manaus fishery harbor between June and October of 2013. Semi-structured questionnaires and a historical timeline technique were used to gather data from artisanal commercial fishers. Fishers’ knowledge of extreme climate events was assessed by their “cultural consensus” for identification of event years and perceived impacts. Fishers’ responses were also compared to hydrological data to test their similarity. RESULTS: There was a high level of cultural consensus among fishers about extreme events years. They were able to identify four consecutive unusual droughts, between 2009 and 2012. Elevated levels of fish mortality and decreases in the fishery were perceived as consequences of the drought events, as well as, a reduction in fish size, and disappearance of some species. Extreme flood events were associated with greater difficulties accessing fishing grounds. CONCLUSIONS: Extreme climatic events (floods and droughts) were remembered, and the recent increase in their intensity and frequency was also perceived. Moreover, extreme climate event (mainly droughts) impacts on fishery resources were also observed. Such information is potentially valuable for educational programs to further improve adaptation of local Amazonian fishing communities to future climate change, e.g. increasing local ecological knowledge using learning material based on their perception. BioMed Central 2016-10-26 /pmc/articles/PMC5080777/ /pubmed/27784304 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13002-016-0123-x Text en © The Author(s). 2016 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Camacho Guerreiro, Ana Isabel
Ladle, Richard J.
da Silva Batista, Vandick
Riverine fishers’ knowledge of extreme climatic events in the Brazilian Amazonia
title Riverine fishers’ knowledge of extreme climatic events in the Brazilian Amazonia
title_full Riverine fishers’ knowledge of extreme climatic events in the Brazilian Amazonia
title_fullStr Riverine fishers’ knowledge of extreme climatic events in the Brazilian Amazonia
title_full_unstemmed Riverine fishers’ knowledge of extreme climatic events in the Brazilian Amazonia
title_short Riverine fishers’ knowledge of extreme climatic events in the Brazilian Amazonia
title_sort riverine fishers’ knowledge of extreme climatic events in the brazilian amazonia
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5080777/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27784304
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13002-016-0123-x
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