Climate change at the third pole”: contradictions between science and shepherds

Climate change at the third pole”: contradictions between science and shepherds

Climate change is manifesting itself differently in different regions of our world and is also having a significant impact on the Tibetan Plateau, often referred to as the “Third Pole”. This region, which is the third largest reservoir of fresh water in the form of ice after the Arctic and Antarctic, plays a key role in both the global water balance and the Asian monsoon system. Loud tu-braunschweig.de However, the changes observed here are complex. While satellite-based remote sensing studies document greening of vegetation, yak herders report significant deterioration of pastures in the region.

An interdisciplinary team from the Technical University of Braunschweig is investigating this discrepancy. The aim of the study is to clarify whether “greening” or degradation of vegetation applies. Findings show that both scientists and herders made accurate observations based on different evaluation criteria. While the remote sensing data documents the spatial and temporal extent of the vegetation, the shepherds assess the quality and quantity of the grass, which is of great importance for their animals.

The importance of the Tibetan Plateau

The Tibetan Plateau not only provides water resources for millions of people in the surrounding regions, but is also fundamental to the ecology of the entire region. Loud tu-berlin.de Research has shown that the glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau responded to the climate of recent decades. These glaciers are crucial to the natural environment and therefore of great importance to water resources.

The TU Berlin is working with the TU Dresden and the RWTH Aachen in a project that examines the development of glaciers. A notable feature of the plateau is Lake Nam Co, which lies at 4700 m above sea level and is almost four times the size of Lake Constance. The sedimentary sequence of this lake contains climate information dating back over a million years and is being studied as part of the leibniz-liag.de funded “NamCore” project.

Diversity of perspectives and methods

Despite scientific advances and valuable remote sensing data, there is an imbalance in methodologies and epistemology between the groups involved. The shepherds bring qualitative knowledge that is often not reflected in the quantitative data provided by scientists. This difference requires an integration of both forms of knowledge to obtain a complete picture of environmental change.

The challenges during interdisciplinary collaboration should not be underestimated. Differences in structure, language and style between the natural sciences and the humanities require an exchange of terminology and contextual information. It is proposed to use the methodological approaches of this study for a nuanced understanding of interdisciplinary contradictions in order to enrich scientific work.

Overall, the findings make it clear that the various sources of knowledge and experiences should not only be respected, but integrated into the scientific discussion. This is the only way to fully understand the complexity of climate change on the Tibetan Plateau and the associated challenges.