Indigenous and local knowledge on social-ecological changes is positively associated with livelihood resilience in a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System

CONTEXT: Rapid social-ecological changes such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource overexploitation are threatening food security, livelihoods, and local knowledge of small-scale farmers worldwide. There has been a call from scientists, farmers, and activists to identify and promote the mechanisms for sustaining resilient farming livelihoods. We hypothesize that small-scale farmers who are more knowledgeable about changes in their environment are more resilient to current social-ecological changes as they might be more prepared to respond to these disturbances. OBJECTIVE: Our objective is to understand how Indigenous and local knowledge on social-ecological changes is associated with small-scale farmers' livelihood resilience in the Chiloé Archipelago, a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System and Global Biodiversity Hotspot in southern South America. METHODS: We conducted 100 surveys with small-scale farmers whose main livelihood activity relied on agrosilvopastoral systems. By asking questions about noticed changes in the atmospheric, physical, biological, and human system, we built an Index of Knowledge on Social-Ecological Changes. We also built an Index of Livelihood Resilience based on households' information on indicators of five capital assets (i.e., financial, human, social, physical, and natural). Finally, by using general linear mixed models, we tested the association between the Index of Knowledge on Social-Ecological Changes, individual capital assets, and the Index of Livelihood Resilience. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: We found that the level of small-scale farmers' knowledge was similar across the different systems (atmospheric, physical, biological, and human). We observed a significant positive association between the Index of Knowledge on Social-Ecological Changes and the Index of Livelihood Resilience, as well as with the natural, social, and physical capital of small-scale farmers. SIGNIFICANCE: By demonstrating the positive association between measures of Indigenous and local knowledge on social-ecological changes and indicators of livelihood resilience, our results suggest that people who are more knowledgeable about changes in their environment might be more prepared to respond to disturbances. While there might be other factors influencing livelihood resilience, our study highlights the importance of leveraging Indigenous and local knowledge, and their respective holders, when planning responses to current social-ecological crises.