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Observations of climate change among subsistence-oriented communities around the world

Nature Climate Change volume 6, pages 462–473 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

The study of climate change has been based strongly on data collected from instruments, but how local people perceive such changes remains poorly quantified. We conducted a meta-analysis of climatic changes observed by subsistence-oriented communities. Our review of 10,660 observations from 2,230 localities in 137 countries shows that increases in temperature and changes in seasonality and rainfall patterns are widespread (≈70% of localities across 122 countries). Observations of increased temperature show patterns consistent with simulated trends in surface air temperature taken from the ensemble average of CMIP5 models, for the period 1955–2005. Secondary impacts of climatic changes on both wild and domesticated plants and animals are extensive and threaten the food security of subsistence-oriented communities. Collectively, our results suggest that climate change is having profound disruptive effects at local levels and that local observations can make an important contribution to understanding the pervasiveness of climate change on ecosystems and societies.

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Figure 1: Geographical distribution of data.
Figure 2: Detailed observations of climate and climate-driven changes.
Figure 3: Detailed observations of climate and climate-driven changes in the biological components of the environment (N = 2,899) overlying the biome global map.
Figure 4: Observations of changes in rainfall amounts overlaying the decadal trend (%) in annual mean precipitation simulated by the ensemble average of the CMIP5 IPCC AR5 Atlas Subset over the period 1955–2005.
Figure 5: Observations of changes in temperatures overlaying the decadal trend (°C) in annual mean near-surface temperature simulated by the ensemble average of the CMIP5 IPCC AR5 Atlas Subset over the period 1955–2005.

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Acknowledgements

This research was undertaken with the assistance of the Government of Canada/avec l'appui du gouvernement du Canada and the generous support of the Tula Foundation (Heriot Bay, British Columbia, Canada) through the Hakai Institute (Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada). Many thanks are also due to the Forest Ecology and Management Group at Simon Fraser University (Canada), the Hakai scholars (Hakai Institute), Dongya Yang (Simon Fraser University), Kevin M. Sampson (National Center for Atmospheric Research), Corinne Le Quéré (Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia), Geert Jan van Oldenborgh (Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut) and Trisalyn Nelson (University of Victoria) for their suggestions and comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hakai Institute, PO Box 25039 Tyee, Campbell River, V9W OB7, British Columbia, Canada

    V. Savo, D. Lepofsky, J. P. Benner & K. Lertzman

  2. Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, V5A 1S6, British Columbia, Canada

    V. Savo & D. Lepofsky

  3. School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, V5A 1S6, British Columbia, Canada

    J. P. Benner, K. E. Kohfeld, J. Bailey & K. Lertzman

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  1. V. Savo
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Contributions

V.S. and D.L. conceptualized the research design and contributed equally to the writing of the manuscript. V.S. conducted the bibliographic search and analysed the data. J.P.B. carried out the GIS elaborations and contributed to the manuscript. K.E.K. and J.B. contributed to the climate model elaborations and the manuscript. K.L. contributed conceptually to the manuscript and helped with writing.

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Correspondence to V. Savo.

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Savo, V., Lepofsky, D., Benner, J. et al. Observations of climate change among subsistence-oriented communities around the world. Nature Clim Change 6, 462–473 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2958

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