Indigenous Knowledge and Risk Perception of Climate Change and Natural Disasters in the Hunza Valley, Pakistan

Arifa Shafqat, Lahore College For Women University (Pakistan)

Climate change is one of the biggest issues facing humanity. The mountainous community of Pakistan in Hunza District of Gilgit-Baltistan region is especially vulnerable to their impacts due to distinct geographical, socio-economic and environmental conditions of that area. To date there has been a lack of research studies focused on investigating climate change risk perceptions in Hunza. This study therefore attempted to assess the indigenous knowledge-based perception of climate change and its impacts such as natural disasters by employing a Mixed-Method Research Methodology. Validation of the climate change perception was conducted utilizing past climatic trends data and available literature. Bivariate analysis was conducted to determine the association between climate change perception and demographic characteristics of respondents. Results of present study showed that an overwhelming majority of respondents had perceived climate change and noticed an increase in temperature (97%) and changes in precipitation (91.20%) and shifting seasonal patterns (87.10%) in past 5-10 years as well as an increase in all of the associated natural disasters being investigated, including GLOFs, floods, landslides etc. A significant association between perception and gender; how people rate the importance of climate change and people rating climate change as a “very important” problem in Hunza and all three demographic variables: gender, age and educational levels was found. The results of this study have important implications for climate change adaptation strategies and policy-making, especially in remote mountainous regions and highly vulnerable populations, to act decisively against the impacts of climate change in such regions utilizing local knowledge.