Figure 3 . Visual contextualization of the villages of Savnob and Roshorv, located within the Bartang Valley of Tajikistan (Kassam et al., 2021).
Historically, these villages utilized ecological calendars to anticipate variation of their local environment. Key livelihood activities commenced in response to biophysical cues critical to their survival. This included listening for the call of an arriving migratory bird to initiate plowing in the spring or watching for the blossoming of a flower instructing herders to drive their livestock to summer pastures. In following these ecological signs, rather than the rigid structure of the Gregorian calendar, the likelihood of a successful harvest increased. This method of tracking the passing of time was paired with another traditional ecological calendar: the Calendar of the Human Body. Key to the foundation of Indigenous knowledge, is the element of performative action. This is revealed in the Calendar of the Human Body as it tracks the passing of time through the body in accordance with the changes occurring in the habitat, not only linking the human to the ecology but also to agricultural activities. It is an embodied expression of the passing of time, a way of being (Kassam et al., 2018). However, the prevalence and use of their ecological calendars has diminished largely as a result of colonization and war.
Efforts to revitalize Indigenous and rural communities’ ecological calendars are currently underway to test their efficacy and role in building anticipatory capacity to anthropogenic climate change. In particular, as the villagers in the Bartang Valley are among the most vulnerable to extreme weather events, their historical ecological calendars have been updated to reflect how animal and plant behavior continues to inform their perception of seasons (Kassam, 2021). Thus far, the revitalization of ecological calendars has been framed as an adaptation approach where one would be responding to the environment’s undergoing transformations to diminish the impact. However, this also includes a component of mitigation through the importance of foresight. One cannot completely predict the impacts of the climate crisis, but it can be anticipated. The strategy to develop anticipatory capacity is therefore concurrently reacting to the altered climatic state and preparing to minimize the damaging effects of anticipated biophysical events.
The reconceptualization of a fluid third space recognizes that a response holds characteristics of adaptation and mitigation, yet it is non-binary. For instance, despite hardships and challenging conditions the villagers of the Bartang Valley exhibit agency through their experimentation and modifications to farming practices in accordance with cycles of their local environment. To survive and respond to the climate crisis, the local food system is undergoing adaptation that includes an element of foresight. Warming temperatures are increasing the length of the growing season at high elevations. In other words, not only is the period of crop productivity extended, but the altitudinal range over which crops can be planted has also increased. Farmers responded to the warming temperatures by attempting to grow wheat at higher elevations. Given frost damage is no longer a significant concern relative to the recent past, their attempts were successful. Villagers recalled that within three generations, a transition occurred from barley to wheat. This coincided with records comparing the upper elevational limit for wheat to have risen by 150 meters from 1893 to 1916 in the Pamirs (Kassam, 2009b). This behavior counters the narrative that Indigenous communities lack the intellectual infrastructure to apply their knowledge systems to implement adaptation-related actions. Unfortunately, there are physical limits to arable land at high elevations, but their actions demonstrate a capacity to observe and act. Not only is this an alternative, context specific form of strategic action to the climate crisis, but it is already built into the fabric of their culture.
Farmers are responding to ecological signs and adjusting their sowing and harvesting behavior accordingly. This does not take place over one season, rather it is a long-term experimental process that is also contingent on preparations for upcoming seasons. This foresight is within an effort to proactively work towards mitigating food insecurity caused by the climate crisis. The majority of actions taken by the community members are aimed at mitigating food insecurity. This includes food for their families as well as having enough fodder to support their livestock. It also extends to observing cues in the environment regarding the most opportune hunting and gathering times. In all the above-mentioned scenarios, the risk is high, but failure to act has perilous consequences. Responding to the new conditions and anticipating the next season is a matter of survival.
The community members’ effort to revitalize their ecological calendars is a form of mitigation in itself. Not only in addressing their food insecurity, but they are also proactively working to prevent the causes of the climate crisis. In an effort to stay in tune with their environment and limited resources, they are relying on appropriate agropastoral approaches such as preparing the land with an ox and plow which proportionally emit less greenhouse gasses. By keeping their small-scale subsistence farming techniques in sync with the rhythms of the land, community members are not expanding nor implementing practices that could otherwise be emitting increased levels of greenhouse gasses. Furthermore, these ecological calendars are alive. They organically evolved through an intense web of human-environmental relationships. Historically, they were updated over multiple generations of Indigenous peoples – each current cohort building on and adjusting the vast knowledge of the previous. Therefore, the calendars continue to hold promise and relevance for maintaining anticipatory capacity to changing environmental conditions. This process of improving accuracy and adjusting the calendars overtime is a form of mitigation as efforts are preventing the calendars from becoming outdated or calcified. To put it succinctly, by updating the ecological calendars overtime, it is possible to envision sustainable futures.
4 The Bigger Picture: Universality and Next Steps
Viewing the adaptation-mitigation binary as a continuum opens-up possibilities for considering optimal solutions based on local ontological practice. Such an approach is applicable to various ecological and sociocultural contexts. While our example pertains directly to the smallholder farmers in the Bartang Valley, it has significant implications for food security worldwide. This has direct global relevance as 70-80% of the world’s food system is dependent on production by small landholders and herders (FAO, 2014; Lowder et al., 2016). The continuum’s qualities are simultaneously particular to a specific context and universal to human behavior demonstrating the relevance and necessity of Indigenous knowledge. Actions taken in the continuum apply across time horizons, addressing the short- and long-term impacts of climate change. This methodology, grounded within the local context, provides tangible hope for future possibilities and survival.
The villagers’ way of life occurs within the adaptation-mitigation continuum, revealing the dichotomy between adaptation and mitigation may no longer be useful. The ontological process of engaging the fluid third space necessitates being mindful of the particular environment in which one resides. Savnob’s and Roshorv’s ecological calendars are context specific. As a result, each calendar reflects the unique diversity of life and knowledge generated in the villages respectively. This includes the interconnectedness between their habitat and livelihood activities, illustrating that cumulative Indigenous knowledge remains relevant through day-to-day action. The continuum features anticipatory capacity, the ability to envision sustainable futures under conditions of anthropogenic climate change, a central element of living ecological calendars. These calendars reveal how Indigenous communities are simultaneously responding to the impacts of climate change while working to mitigate the crisis. This third fluid space, the expanse within the adaptation-mitigation continuum, not only emphasizes the connection between the social and the ecological, but it also speaks to human agency and action.
Acknowledgments
There are no real or perceived financial conflicts of interests for any author.
International funding for research in the Pamir Mountains of Central Asia was provided by the “Mountains as Sentinels of Change - Collaborative Research Belmont Forum: Ecological Calendars and Climate Adaptation in the Pamirs (ECCAP)” Project, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF, Award Number 1630490), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, Award Number SA 775/12-1) and the Italian National Research Council (CNR, Award Number B51J11000840001).
The insights revealed through this reflective essay are possible because of the contributions and generosity of the leadership and community members from the villagers of Roshorv and Savnob, in the Bartang Valley of GornoBadakhshan Autonomous Oblast, Tajikistan. We are grateful for the suggestions and comments of the reviewers and managing editor.