Mitigating climate change effects through traditional land management practices

索科特拉群岛位于印度洋西北部，位于也门以南380公里，索马里以东80公里，它以其自然遗产而闻名，并因其独特而丰富的生物多样性于2008年被列入《世界遗产名录》。然而，自1990年以来，它也一直是一系列以环境问题为重点的大规模国际发展和保护计划的接受者，最近的研究表明，这些计划在一定程度上被误导了，使Soqotra在很大程度上依赖外部资金，而不是留下可持续的遗产。此外，这些项目几乎完全集中在生物多样性或Soqotra的自然遗产上：尽管Soqotri人自己证明了Soqotra的价值，但对Soqotra的文化遗产几乎没有进行研究，而且自然遗产和文化遗产之间的联系——Soqotri人不承认的一种分离——几乎完全被忽视了。此外，对Soqotra的气候进行了非常有限的研究-根本没有关于Soqotra的气候如何变化以及未来将如何变化的研究-这有点令人惊讶，因为目前全球气候紧急情况在被认定为世界遗产的独特遗产的背景下受到重视。索科特拉岛是一个小岛系统，拥有多样化的景观和复杂的气候。它已经受到极端天气事件的严重打击，这些事件的严重性和频率都在增加，淡水总是供不应求。在人们的记忆中，Soqotra的人们随他们的放牧动物季节性迁移，以确保他们自己和他们的动物的健康生活，但随着发展的进行，这种知识正在丢失，年轻人对他们的传统生活方式不太感兴趣。然而，这种传统知识的发展是为了应对极端和不可预测的天气，并可能提供一些如何适应当地气候变化的答案。为了实现这一目标，不仅有必要进一步研究这些知识体系及其演变所应对的气候，而且需要通过将传统知识与当代发展和未来生计相结合，确保它们在Soqotra上得到理解和重视。拟议中的项目将进一步记录和更新关于Soqotra上传统系统的知识，评估已经丢失的知识和不再使用的实践，并评估它们如何与过去、现在和未来的气候相匹配。它将确定如何将传统知识与气候管理联系起来，并建议如何复兴这些知识，以帮助应对未来的气候变化。该研究不是在后期进行科学研究并向当地利益相关者推荐管理方案，而是将与在Soqotra遗产项目下受过培训并得到英国专家科学家支持的来自Soqotra的遗产专家团队合作进行。这项工作不仅将与当地专家合作，还将与当地社区和决策者合作，由土地管理、气候变化和Soqotra遗产方面的专家提供支持。结果将是更好地理解气候与具有当代意义的传统生活方式之间的联系，以及更好地预测和管理气候变化对一个独特岛屿上的遗产和生物多样性的影响的能力。所开发的方法可以应用于全球其他岛屿系统以及受类似气候影响的遗产受到威胁的地区。

The Soqotra Archipelago - located in the north west Indian Ocean 380km south of Yemen and 80km east of Somalia - is rightly renowned for its natural heritage and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2008 for its unique and rich biodiversity. However, it has also been the recipient of a range of large-scale international development and conservation programmes since 1990 focusing on environmental issues, and recent studies have suggested that these have been in part misguided and have left Soqotra largely dependent on external funding rather than leaving a sustainable legacy.Further, these programmes have focused almost entirely on the biodiversity, or the natural heritage of Soqotra: the cultural heritage of Soqotra has been little studied despite demonstrated value by the Soqotri people themselves, and the links between natural and cultural heritage - a separation not recognised by Soqotri people - have been almost totally ignored. In addition, very limited research has been undertaken on the climate of Soqotra - and none at all on how the climate of Soqotra has changed and will continue to change in the future - which is somewhat surprising due to the current importance placed on the global climate emergency against a backdrop of unique heritage recognised as a World Heritage Site.Soqotra is a small island system, with a diverse landscape and a complex climate. It is already being hit hard by extreme weather events which are increasing in severity and frequency, and fresh water is always in short supply. Within living memory, the people of Soqotra moved seasonally with their grazing animals to ensure healthy lives for themselves and their animals, but this knowledge is being lost as development proceeds and young people are less interested in their traditional ways of life. Yet, this traditional knowledge evolved to cope with extreme and unpredictable weather and may hold some answers as to how climate change can be adapted to locally. In order to achieve this, it is necessary not only to further study these systems of knowledge and the climate they evolved to cope with, but to ensure they are understood and valued on Soqotra by merging traditional knowledge with contemporary development and livelihoods for the future.The proposed project will further document and update knowledge about traditional systems on Soqotra, assess how much knowledge has already been lost and which practises are no longer in use, and assess how they match climate in the past, present and future. It will establish how traditional knowledge is linked to climate management and recommend how such knowledge can be revived to help cope with climate change in the future. Rather than undertaking scientific study and recommending management options to local stakeholders at a later stage, the research will be conducted in partnership with a team of heritage experts from Soqotra trained under the Soqotra Heritage Project and supported by expert scientists from the UK. This will be done in partnership not only with local experts, but also local communities and decision makers supported by experts in land management, climate change and the heritage of Soqotra. The result will be a better understanding of the linkages between climate and a traditional way of life that has contemporary relevance, and the ability to better predict and manage the effects of climate change on heritage and biodiversity on a unique island. The methods developed can be application in other island systems globally as well as areas affected by similar climates where heritage is under threat.