Climate Changed World

Inhabitants of the Eastern Pamir Mountains are pressured to overuse a highland shrub for firewood as imported fuel becomes too costly.United Nations University (2012)

Inherkowinginambana, from Kowanyama - a coastal Aboriginal community in tropical Queensland, Australia - works with other local elders to protect Aboriginal country and culture. “When that whole ocean comes and rises up, where are we going to go?” ponders Inherkowinginambana. “Every year it (the tide) comes in, it goes a bit further up once it hits the swamps, that will kill all the plant life, and the waterways.” As a traditional knowledge coordinator, Inherkowinginambana travels with the local rangers and various traditional owners to visit different cultural sites that are being rapidly changed by saltwater rise.United Nations University (2012)

Kyrgyzstan shepherd Dootkasy and his wife Anarkul share their family's observations and traditional adaptations to a changing climate in highland pastures of Kyrgyzstan's Tian Shan Mountains.United Nations University (2012)

The effects of climate change on indigenous communities living on a sandy island in Papua New Guinea. Nicholas Hakata, a local youth leader, explains that with sea level rise, he and his family have been surviving on fish and coconuts, and battling malaria-infected swamp mosquitoes. With doos aid ships coming twice a year, the relocation plans are slow. Hungry and frustrated, Islanders have set up their own relocation team and have begun the urgent tasks of moving their families closer to security. Unitted Nations University (2012)

Three generations of of Pamiri women share the impacts of the melt and decreasing water levels. The glaciers of the Pamir mountains (Tajikistan), which provide over 50% of Central Asia's water resources, are rapidly melting at a rate similar to Greenland's continental glacier. United Nations University (2012)

Arnhem Land - Aboriginal fire ecologist, Dean Yibarbuk, explains how traditional fire management practices have kept the country healthy for thousands of years. Recently, his team have been working with local scientists to adapt the regime of traditional fire management to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The fire abatement scheme of Australia's Western Arnhemland is a carbon offset community programme, gaining a lot of international attention.United Nations University (2012)

Deep in the remaining old growth forests of Borneo, the Setulang Dayak village guards its forest with deep commitment. To date, the village's traditional law of Tana Olen (forbidden forest), withstands increasing pressure from encroaching logging industries. Now as rapid development rolls in, the village is trying to secure sustainable and forest-friendly future, including a eco-tourism venture and carbon credits.United Nations University (2012) 

Located on the eastern shore of Australias tropical north, Shiptons Flat is home to Marilyn, a Kuku Nyungkal Aboriginal woman, and her family.United Nations University (2012)

Slava Cheltuey  (Altai, Russia) is a Telengit community leader and shaman from the Russian Altai Mountain's high altitude Kosh Agach district. Whilst traversing Altai's sacred lands, he reflects on our 21st century world and stresses the importance of reviving vital traditional knowledge - age-old wisdom that instruct the respectful and harmonious relationship between local environment and human behaviour.United Nations University (2012)