Human adaptation to climate change: An introduction to the special issue

Abstract

Objectives: Despite our focus on adaptation and human responses to climate, evolutionary and biological anthropologists (EBAs) are largely absent from conversations about contemporary "climate-change adaptation," a term popular in other disciplines, the development world, and related policy decisions. EBAs are missing a big opportunity to contribute to impactful, time-sensitive applied work: we have extensive theoretical and empirical knowledge pertinent to conversations about climate-change adaptation and to helping support communities as they cope. This special issue takes a tour of EBA contributions to our understanding of climate-change adaptation, from data on past and contemporary human communities to theoretically informed predictions about how individuals and communities will respond to climate change now and in the future. First, however, we must establish what we mean by "climate change" and "adaptation," along with other terms commonly used by EBAs; review what EBAs know about adaptation and about human responses to climate change; and identify just a few topics EBAs study that are pertinent to ongoing conversations about climate-change adaptation. In this article, we do just that. Conclusion:From our work on energy use to our work on demography, subsistence, social networks, and the salience of climate change to local communities, EBAs have an abundance of data and theoretical insights to help inform responses to contemporary climate change. We need to better reach the climate community and general public with our contributions.

How can evolutionary and biological anthropologists engage broader audiences?

“…Indeed, perhaps one of the most relevant contributions EBAs can make to larger conversations about climate change is our understanding of the adaptation in "climate-change adaptation." Climate change has been a major selection pressure affecting human evolution over the last 5-7 million years (Pisor & Jones, 2021a)-likely contributing to the extinctions of other species of Homo (Raia et al, 2020)-and anthropologists have been studying adaptation for the last century (Jones et al, 2021). Our focus on the time depth of human adaptation through paleoanthropology and archaeology gives us insight into how humans have responded, and can respond in the future, to large environmental perturbations (Behrensmeyer, 2006;Kohler & Rockman, 2020;Xu et al, 2020).…”

“…Second, it helps us make a priori predictions about humanenvironment interactions (e.g., Binford, 2001;Hill, 1984;Kelly, 2013;Winterhalder & Kennett, 2006). Third, it helps us avoid applying the functionalist fallacy to adaptations, mistaking the current utility of an adaptation for its evolutionary origin (Ensminger, 1994;Pisor & Jones, 2021a). However, we must always be aware that due to anthropology's history of perpetuating racist ideas, often bolstered by misunderstandings of evolutionary theory among broader audiences, using evolutionary theory to integrate observations continues to raise hackles in some circles (Section 4).…”

“…We can bring diversity to conversations about policy and human nature by injecting data from contemporary peoples whose perspectives are often absent (Bliege Bird & Bird, 2021;Broesch et al, 2020;Hazel et al, 2021;Kramer & Hackman, 2021;Pisor & Jones, 2021b;Ready & Collings, 2021), as well as past peoples whose experiences are instructive but often forgotten (Douglass & Rasolondrainy, 2021;Kohler & Rockman, 2020). Given that the story of human evolution is one of adaptation to changing climates (Behrensmeyer, 2006), EBAs are exceedingly well-positioned to contribute to debates about current and future adaptation to climate change (Pisor & Jones, 2021a)-and contribute we should, now, as climate change threatens to displace 2-4 billion people in the next 50 years (Xu et al, 2020).…”

Impact of Geography on Adaptation for the Future Sustainability of Human Society on Earth

“…The concept of adaptation to changing conditions created by humanity has emerged through the history of human use and abuse of ecosystems including adaptation to climate change (Pisor & Jones, 2020), ecological transitions (Bennett, 2017) and advancement in technologies such as educational cognition (Nesterova, 2017). At the centre of these adaptations is the key lessons that geography tends to provide such as helping to offer an in-depth understanding into how human societies have adapted to the ever changing world over time.…”

Approximate Bayesian Computation of radiocarbon and paleoenvironmental record shows population resilience on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

“…U nderstanding how past human populations responded to ecological and climatic change continues to be a primary focus in the historical sciences, e.g., [1][2][3][4][5] . While there is a growing pool of high-resolution paleoecological and paleoclimatic data, reconstructing paleodemographic patterns remains a central challenge [6][7][8][9] .…”