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

Arifa Shafqat, Lahore College For Women University (Pakistan)

Investigating Indigenous Knowledge Based Risk Perception of Climate Change and Natural
Disasters in Vulnerable High Mountain Community of Hunza Valley, Western Karakoram,

Pakistan

Arifa Shafqat 1* (ArifaShafqat@hotmail.com)

1 Department of Environmental Science, Lahore College For Women University, Lahore, Punjab,

Pakistan.

ABSTRACT

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.

Keywords: Climate Change, Natural Disasters, Risk Perception, Indigenous Communities, Hunza Valley,
Western Karakoram, Gilgit-Baltistan Pakistan