Hurricanes can cause extensive long-term damage to small-scale fisheries. Yet, information is scarce on how communities are locally impacted by extreme events in the Caribbean and in other parts of the world. Focusing on an artisanal fishery in Yaguajay, Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, this article explores how artisanal fishers have perceived and responded to the different damages brought about by Hurricane Irma in September 2017 and the inundations associated with Storm Alberto in May 2018. Combining discussions and short interviews carried out pre and post-storms Irma and Alberto, this study identifies major environmental impacts and matching responses. In addition, the article sheds light on the evolution of small-scale fishing communities in Cuba and their current organization. Results show local perceptions of extensive biodiversity loss in terms of mangrove coverage, changes in salinity, and the quality of coastal environments that have affected the composition of captures and fish sizes. As a consequence of these changes, fishers are adjusting their effort and fishing intensity to match perturbations. Findings underscore the need to identify the synergistic relations that may exist between prior environmental degradation and different extreme events such as droughts, hurricanes, and excessive precipitation. The interrelation of these factors may result in compounded aggravated impacts that may unfold over longer temporal scales and not just as a one-time event. Authors conclude by stressing the importance of including the systematic study of extreme events along with local perceptions of ecological change in fishery management plans. Because fishers´ responses to hazards are based on their experiences and knowledge of the state of coastal and marine habitats, and especially on expectations about what constitutes normal ranges of change, threats, and levels of risks, this information is key to guide behavioral interventions and decision frameworks that can foster the development of hurricane resistant communities.

As a vulnerable population, immigrants can be disproportionately affected by disasters. Because of their legal and migratory status, immigrants may have different challenges, needs, and possibilities when facing a disaster. Yet, within disaster studies, immigrants are rarely studied alone. Instead, they are often considered part of the large heterogeneous group of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. This racial classification points to a gap in the literature and in our understanding of how disadvantaged groups may cope with disasters. To address this gap, the current study hypothesizes that: (1) Immigrants have unique experiences and disaster impacts compared to the broader aggregated category of racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S. and (2) There are variations in disaster experiences and impacts across different types of immigrant subgroups beyond refugees. To explore these hypotheses, a study of the literature across six databases from 2018 to 2023was conducted. The review identified a total of 17 articles discussing immigrant experiences during disasters. Major cross-cutting themes on immigrant disaster experiences include fear of deportation, restrictive immigration status, excessive economic burden and labor exploitation, employment rigidity, adverse health outcomes, limited informational resources and limited social capital, selective disaster relief measures, and infrastructural challenges as regards to housing and transportation. Many of the themes identified are unique to immigrants, such as the fear of deportation, restrictive immigration status and visa policies, and selective disaster relief measures.

This article presents a case study of a fishery in the port-town community of Ende, Flores, a former littoral hub located at the periphery of major commercial systems in the Indo-Pacific region. The article argues that more attention be paid to the role of transregional maritime networks, nautical conventions, and navigational practices embedded within local tenure systems to understand the apparent absence of formal control of marine and coastal resources. Through ethnographic and archival research, this study identifies the presence of indigenous institutions for fishing grounds regulation and documents the existence of broader transregional norms dictating proper fishing and navigation. Exploring the interactions between more pluralistic customary systems that exist in port-towns such as Ende and recent fishery development policies, the article discusses some of the obstacles to implementing sustainable co-management strategies. While the Indonesian central government is strongly promoting co-governance approaches for resource management, these institutional models are based on geographically narrow definitions of tradition and customary law which can lead to management failures, such as elite capture and local fishers’ disenfranchisement. In this case, policies emphasize the formation of cooperative groups without considering transregional beliefs about independence and pre-established systems of obligations. As a result, disputes among the fishermen, conflicts with local fishery officers, and the use of non-sustainable practices continue. For example, embodying predominant Southeast Asian beliefs, Endenese are known for their entrepreneurial nature and strong self-sufficiency ethos. Yet, these notions are ignored by local government agencies that view the fishermen as selfish and disorganized. In order to formulate true participatory solutions, a careful assessment of the role played by transregional perspectives that go beyond geographically localized understandings of customary practices is needed. The article concludes with a consideration of the role played by decentralization processes, subsidies, and aid programs in entrenching poverty and inequality among local communities.

Sharing information between different countries is key for developing sustainable solutions to environmental change. Coastal wetlands in the Gulf of Mexico are suffering significant environmental and human-related threats. Working across national boundaries, this research project brings together scientists, specialists and local communities from Cuba and the USA. While important advances have been made in strengthening collaborations, important obstacles remain in terms of international policy constraints, different institutional and academic cultures and technology. Overcoming these limitations is essential to formulating a comprehensive understanding of the challenges that coastal socioecological systems are facing now and into the future.

Background: We test whether traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) about how to make an item predicts a person’s skill at making it among the Tsimane’ (Bolivia). The rationale for this research is that the failure to distinguish between knowledge and skill might account for some of the conflicting results about the relationships between TEK, human health, and economic development.Methods: We test the association between a commonly-used measure of individual knowledge (cultural consensus analysis) about how to make an arrow or a bag and a measure of individual skill at making these items, using ordinary least-squares regression. The study consists of 43 participants from 3 villages.Results: We find no association between our measures of knowledge and skill (core model,p > 0.5, R² = .132).Conclusions: While we cannot rule out the possibility of a real association between these phenomena, we interpret our findings as support for the claim that researchers should distinguish between methods to measure knowledge and skill when studying trends in TEK.

The past years have shown the widespread vulnerability of agro-food systems and rural diets to external perturbations such as wars, climate events, and pandemics. Experiencing numerous obstacles, Cuba constitutes an example of success in the transition to agroecological sustainability models. This article characterizes how processes of agricultural change, local development, and industrial degrowth have impacted food availability and dietary diversity among rural livelihoods in the municipality of Yaguajay, Sancti Spíritus, for the past forty years (1980s–2020s). It integrates findings from focus groups, repeated nutritional surveys, and interviews carried out between 2016 and 2022 among residents of the towns of Yaguajay and La Picadora. The goal is to identify effects and response strategies within agro-food systems of rural populations. Distinguishing between periods of abundance and shortage, our findings show two counterpoints: intensive sugar monocrop cultivation, which resulted in high dietary variety; and economic crises in the 1990s and during the last period of the pandemic, which have led to significant dietary adjustments. The article concludes by underscoring the importance of comprehensive assessments of dietary strategies to elicit what agroecological transitions mean for local realities and of the value of food consumption and small-holder production experiences to understand the limits to sustainable transformations.