Abstract
BackgroundClimate change is affecting food systems globally, with implications for food security, nutrition, and the health of human populations. There are limited data characterizing the current and future consequences of climate change on local food security for populations already experiencing poor nutritional indicators. Indigenous Amazonian populations have a high reported prevalence of nutritional deficiencies. This paper characterizes the food system of the Shawi of the Peruvian Amazon, climatic and non-climatic drivers of their food security vulnerability to climate change, and identifies potential maladaptation trajectories.Methods and findingsSemi-structured interviews with key informants (n = 24), three photovoice workshops (n = 17 individuals), transect walks (n = 2), a food calendar exercise, and two community dissemination meetings (n = 30 individuals), were conducted within two Shawi communities in Balsapuerto District in the Peruvian Loreto region between June and September of 2014. The Shawi food system was based on three main food sub-systems (forest, farming and externally-sourced). Shawi reported collective, gendered, and emotional notions related to their food system activities. Climatic and non-climatic drivers of food security vulnerability among Shawi participants acted at proximal and distal levels, and mutually reinforced key maladaptation trajectories, including: 1) a growing population and natural resource degradation coupled with limited opportunities to increase incomes, and 2) a desire for education and deforestation reinforced by governmental social and food interventions.ConclusionA series of maladaptive trajectories have the potential to increase social and nutritional inequities for the Shawi. Transformational food security adaptation should include consideration of Indigenous perceptions and priorities, and should be part of Peruvian food and socioeconomic development policies.
Highlights
Climate change is affecting food systems globally, with implications for food security, nutrition and the health of human populations[1, 2]
The ways in which climate change risks impact food security and human nutrition are mediated by local food systems [2, 11, 12], and these interactions will differ across contexts and are localized in nature, providing an important entry point for informing adaptation options and responses [13]
Research among Indigenous Amazonian peoples is nascent and has been identified as an important research gap- a research gap that will be particular important to fill in order to inform healthrelated climate change policies and climate-related health policy [21, 23]
Summary
Climate change is affecting food systems globally, with implications for food security, nutrition and the health of human populations[1, 2]. Less is known about how human populations react to climatic impacts on food security at the local level, and how climate and weather interact with other drivers of health [7,8,9,10]. The ways in which climate change risks impact food security and human nutrition are mediated by local food systems [2, 11, 12], and these interactions will differ across contexts and are localized in nature, providing an important entry point for informing adaptation options and responses [13]. Investigating in food security and food systems at a local level can aid in identifying (mal)adaptation trajectories that might endanger the long-term capacity of people to cope with and respond to climate change impacts[14, 15]. This paper characterizes the food system of the Shawi of the Peruvian Amazon, climatic and non-climatic drivers of their food security vulnerability to climate change, and identifies potential maladaptation trajectories
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