Forced mobility as an adaptation strategy due to climate change in the Brazilian Amazon: bridging Indigenous local realities and scientific knowledge

PEDRO MARQUES , CEDEPLAR UFMG
Alisson Barbieri, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Rodrigo Reis, Universidade Federal do Amazonas

This study investigates the effects of environmental and climatic changes on the livelihoods strategies of riverine and Indigenous communities in the Alto Solimões region, Brazilian Amazon. Using a mixed-methods approach, we combined a systematic literature review with a qualitative and quantitative analysis based on responses to a semi-structured field survey involving local communities. The systematic review followed the PRISMA protocol to ensure a standardized search and a robust analysis of the articles. This strategy was applied in the Scielo, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. The search resulted in 136 articles that were screened, selected, and analyzed. The qualitative phase consisted of the application of a semi-structured questionnaire with 71 participants in the Alto Solimões region of the Amazon. Respondents had an average age of 55 years, and most self-identified as Indigenous. The quantitative analysis was conducted through a network analysis based on the codes systematized from the transcriptions. The code “forced mobility” was connected to 13 nodes and 22 edges, showing strong co-occurrence with other codes such as floods, droughts, and health. We thus integrate the qualitative surveys with official data on disasters in order to identify and link quantitative information regarding damages of disasters and extreme events.The analysis indicates that environmental and climatic changes significantly affect livelihood strategies of Amazonian communities, influencing agricultural practices, household income, and health conditions. In this context of impacts caused by extreme climatic events, mobility emerges as one of the adaptive strategies, representing a reconfiguration of survival practices in response to environmental pressures and, in some situations, an amplification of existing vulnerabilities.

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 Presented in Session P4. Migration, Migrants, and Mobility