ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that the wealth of ecological knowledge and management ability has great value for providing much-needed phenological data and governance models, as well as a connection to the natural world that may help mobilize wider action on climate change. It aims to shift the common perception of indigenous peoples as "helpless," passive observers to what the authors call "primary actors"—agents of change who are autonomous and capable both of directing their own responses and influencing global responses to climate monitoring, adaptation, and mitigation. Indigenous and other traditional peoples are only rarely considered in academic, policy, and public discourses on climate change, despite the fact that they are and will be greatly impacted by present and impending changes. The climate change research community must recognize the obvious bridge that indigenous and local peoples provide between climate change and biodiversity protection in the service of helping to preserve themselves.
