Presenter(s): Haley Nicholson − Environmental Studies
Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Carey
Poster 173
Research Area: Social Science
Climate change will have substantial impacts on agriculture which may affect our modern food system as we know it. Despite all of the climate change research that has been conducted, there is not enough importance placed on how climate change impacts indigenous food systems, particularly in the Andes region. Indigenous food systems are at particularly high risk for adverse climate change impacts because of their reliance on environmental predictability. Modern climate changes result in immediate nutrition and food security consequences for farmers in the Andean region, which is why it is so important that these impacts and possible mitigation strategies are studied. Through research in various peer-reviewed journals and United Nations and World Bank reports I will discuss how climate change has resulted in decreased food sovereignty, security, and nutrition for indigenous food systems in the Andes. I will also examine how climate change has already spurred adaptation strategies based on traditional knowledge of the agricultural landscape in the Andes. These adaptation strategies demonstrate the importance of traditional knowledge in the face of climate change.