Changing Land- and Seascapes: Impacts of Environmental Change on Livelihoods, Subsistence, and Knowledge and Use of Wild Plants in Coastal Louisiana’s Tribal Communities

Environmental and technological disasters, extractive industries, river mismanagement, and climate change are drastically transforming coastal Louisiana’s sea- and landscape. These natural and human-initiated processes are threatening communities’ ability to remain in the places where they have lived for generations. In the context of rapid environmental change, this presentation brings together two studies focused on the displacement, subsistence, and livelihood impacts and the changes in medicinal and edible wild plant knowledge and use in tribal communities in coastal Louisiana. It includes findings on loss of subsistence, cultural practices, plant use, and associated knowledge, as well as the strategies the tribes are using to adapt to a changing environment and a transforming subsistence-based livelihood.