How mountain terraces have helped Indigenous peoples live with climate uncertainty

As climate extremes intensify, adaptation debates favor new technologies. Terraces in the Philippines and Morocco show how people modified their landscapes to respond to past climate shifts.

By: Stephen Acabado, University of California, Los Angeles, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: January 15, 2026

Words: 1,293

Last Updated: 2 months ago

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By Stephen Acabado, University of California, Los Angeles

Indigenous communities have lived with changes to the climate for centuries. Their adaptations over those many years are based on their close observation of weather, water, soils and seasonal change, and they have been refined through generations of learning.

That knowledge, though developed deep in the past, is increasingly useful in the modern world. As global temperatures rise, climate pressures are intensifying, with longer dry spells, …

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