Knowledge of and Vulnerability to Climate Change among Pastoralists in Central Tibet

The UCLA Asia Institute hosts a talk by Emily Yeh to discuss findings about Tibetan pastoralists’ knowledge of climate change, as well as factors leading to vulnerability to climate change, based on an interdisciplinary project conducted in Nagchu, in the northern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, PRC.

Yeh will discuss findings about Tibetan pastoralists’ knowledge of climate change, as well as factors leading to vulnerability to climate change, based on an interdisciplinary project conducted in Nagchu, in the northern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, PRC. Yeh will argue that spring phenology appears to be delayed on the Tibetan Plateau. Further, she will argue that it is precisely points of apparent contradiction within and between knowledge systems that are most productive for more extensive inquiry on climate change. Finally, Yeh turns to a political ecology analysis of various factors that lead to vulnerability to livestock loss from large snowstorms, which are projected to increase in severity and frequency with climate change.

Sponsor(s): Program on Central Asia, Anthropology, Geography