Indigenous Peoples and Climate
Change in Latin America and the Caribbean

Indigenous peoples across Latin America
and the Caribbean (LAC) already perceive and experience
negative effects of climate change and variability. Although
the overall economic impact of climate change on gross
domestic product (GDP) is significant, what is particularly
problematic is that it falls disproportionately on the poor
including indigenous peoples, who constitute about 6.5
percent of the population in the region and are among its
poorest and most vulnerable (Hall and Patrinos 2006). This
book examines the social implications of climate change and
climatic variability for indigenous communities in LAC and
the options for improving their resilience and adaptability
to these phenomena. By social implications, the authors mean
direct and indirect effects in the broad sense of the word
social, including factors contributing to human well-being,
health, livelihoods, human agency, social organization, and
social justice. This book, much of which relies on new
empirical research, addresses specifically the situation of
indigenous communities because our research showed them to
be among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate
change. A companion book (Verner 2010) provides information
on the broader social dimensions of climate change in LAC
and on policy options for addressing them. This book will
help to place these impacts higher on the climate-change
agenda and guide efforts to enhance indigenous peoples'
rights and opportunities, whether by governments, indigenous
peoples' organizations and their leaders, or non-state representatives.