Erosion of landscapes underlaid by permafrost can transform sediment and nutrient fluxes, surface and subsurface hydrology, soil properties, and rates of permafrost thaw, thus changing ecosystems and carbon emissions in high latitude regions with potential implications for global climate. However, future rates of erosion and sediment transport are difficult to predict as they depend on complex interactions between climatic and environmental parameters such as temperature, precipitation, permafrost, vegetation, wildfires, and hydrology. Thus, despite the potential influence of erosion on the future of the Arctic and global systems, the relations between erosion-rate and these parameters, as well as their relative importance, remain largely unquantified. Here we quantify these relations based on a sedimentary record from Burial Lake, Alaska, one of the richest datasets of Arctic lake deposits. We apply a set of bi- and multi-variate techniques to explore the association between the flux of terrigenous sediments into the lake (a proxy for erosion-rate) and a variety of biogeochemical sedimentary proxies for paleoclimatic and environmental conditions over the past 25 cal ka BP. Our results show that erosion-rate is most strongly associated with temperature and vegetation proxies, and that erosion-rate decreases with increased temperature, pollen-counts, and abundance of pollen from shrubs and trees. Other proxies, such as those associated with fire frequency, aeolian dust supply, mass wasting and hydrologic conditions, play a secondary role. The marginal effects of the sedimentary-proxies on erosion-rate are often threshold dependent, highlighting the potential for strong non-linear changes in erosion in response to future changes in Arctic conditions.

Through advancements in technology humans have cultivated more food, used more fossil fuel reserves, polluted the environment, and caused climate change. This was not the case some few decades ago where indigenous technologies were used in exploiting natural resources. Unfortunately, the effects of climate change on the planet are no more distant reality. The melting of glaciers, rising sea levels, extreme rainfall, and prolonged drought are already being experienced. These have affected water resources, land, and food security across the world. The limits of conventional climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies call for the integration of indigenous knowledge and technologies for tackling climate change issues. This is because of the importance that indigenous knowledge and technologies have for identifying the impacts and as well providing effective adaption and mitigation strategies to climate change. Thus, this chapter explores the potential of indigenous knowledge and technologies for the sustainable management of water, land, and food security amidst climate change. The applications of indigenous technologies and knowledge such as agroforestry, the use of sacred groves to conserve water, land, and biodiversity resources, and the practising of conservation-agriculture are discussed as solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, water shortages, land degradation, and pollution. However, these indigenous technologies will be less useful in today's world if not harnessed. Thus also in this chapter, the scientific know-how available to improve the effectiveness of indigenous technologies for the sustainable use of water, land, and food resources have been identified (Robotics, sensors/detectors, internet of things) and discussed.

Climate change will alter ecosystem metabolism and may lead to a redistribution of vegetation and changes in fire regimes in Northern Eurasia over the 21st century. Land management decisions will interact with these climate-driven changes to reshape the region's landscape. Here we present an assessment of the potential consequences of climate change on land use and associated land carbon sink activity for Northern Eurasia in the context of climate-induced vegetation shifts. Under a `business-as-usual' scenario, climate-induced vegetation shifts allow expansion of areas devoted to food crop production (15%) and pastures (39%) over the 21st century. Under a climate stabilization scenario, climate-induced vegetation shifts permit expansion of areas devoted to cellulosic biofuel production (25%) and pastures (21%), but reduce the expansion of areas devoted to food crop production by 10%. In both climate scenarios, vegetation shifts further reduce the areas devoted to timber production by 6-8% over this same time period. Fire associated with climate-induced vegetation shifts causes the region to become more of a carbon source than if no vegetation shifts occur. Consideration of the interactions between climate-induced vegetation shifts and human activities through a modeling framework has provided clues to how humans may be able to adapt to a changing world and identified the trade-offs, including unintended consequences, associated with proposed climate/energy policies.