News
IHACC Peru recently completed field work with Shawi communities in the Alto Amazonas Province. To learn more about IHACC activities in November and December 2013 click on the following three field reports: Water and Sanitation - November 2013
New Approaches to Education - November 2013
A Medicinal Plant Garden - December 2013
Congratulations to Sherilee Harper on successfully defending her PhD on acute gastrointestinal illness and links to climate change in the Arctic. Sheri's PhD is the first to come out of IHACC, and she will continue working on the project as faculty at the University of Guelph, also joining the project management committee.
A number of IHACC project members participated in the ArticNet 2013 conference. Dr. James Ford presented a poster on IHACC that focused on the Arctic regional team's work, and chaired the session "Climate Adaptation, Health and Indigenous Knowledge (IK-ADAPT)".
The following three talks were also given at the conference during topical sessions:
Hofmeijer, I., Ford, J., Berrang-Ford, L. et al. (2013). Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change. Find PDF.
This paper presents the results of an exploratory study working with two Amazonian communities in Peru to identify key climate-related health risks from the perspective of local residents, and characterize how these risks are experienced and managed. The work adopts a vulnerability-based approach and utilizes participatory methodologies to document and examine local perspectives on vulnerability and adaptive capacity. Thirty nine community members were engaged in participatory photography (photovoice), and rapid rural appraisal workshops were conducted with a total 40 participants. Contextual information was obtained from 34 semi-structured interviews with key informants and participant observation during fieldwork. Three climate-related health risks were identified by the communities as pressing issues (food insecurity, water insecurity, and vector-borne disease), all of which are climate-dependent and reported to be being affected by observed changes in climatic conditions. Sensitivity to these risks is high due to social and economic disadvantages which force people to live in suboptimal conditions, partake in dangerous activities, and engage in unhealthy behaviors. Traditional approaches to health and strong social networks are important in moderating health risks, but are placed under increasing stress in the context of local social and economic changes due to larger scale influences, including resource development, deforestation, and changing social relations.
This year, the annual meeting was held in Buhoma in the Kanungu District of Uganda and took place from the 9th to the 11th of July. Issues having arisen during the second year of the project were discussed, and strategies forward for year three were developed. Team members also had the opportunity to visit one of the project’s partnering research communities, the Mukongoro Batwa settlement, accompanied by the Batwa Development Program’s Sabastian Twesigomwe. The team was greeted with songs and dances, and shared a traditional meal prepared by community members.
