Pastoralism and Pastoralism and Climate Change Climate Change

AdaptationAdaptation

Where Mbororo People and Official Science Meet

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By Hindou Oumarou IbrahimAFPAT CoordinatorIPACC Sahel Region RepresentMbororo From Chadhindououmar@gmail.com

IntroductionIntroduction

The value of grassroots involvement in climate-related decision-making has received attention in several official climate policy documents

Nonetheless minority groups including indigenous people (e.g. mobile people / pastoralists) are still largely excluded from climate-related decision-making

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◦Climate science and related information can be used to great advantage to avoid and manage climatic risks and to take advantage of the opportunities arising from changed climate conditions

◦IPACC delegates in partnership with the WMO’s WCC3, IPACC, AFPAT, CTA and ASISO implement the the project “Influencing regional policy processes in Climate Change Adaptation through the merger of African pastoralist traditional knowledge and atmospheric science”

Introduction (cont.)Introduction (cont.)

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Traditional knowledge Traditional knowledge systems and climate systems and climate changechangeClimate change impacts on local ecosystems and livelihood patterns

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TheThe Case of the Mbororo Case of the Mbororo PeoplePeople

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About the MbororoAbout the MbororoNomadic and semi-

nomadic herders Living in Cameroon,

the Central African Republic, Chad, Niger and Nigeria

250.000 in Chad (1993 census)

Building on traditional knowledge systems to cope with seasonal weather patterns and sustainably manage meagre resources

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Challenges Challenges

Climate change & increasing restrictions on mobility

Increasing distances

Loss of livestock Change of

lifestyleDistinctive needs

rarely addressed 7

Bridging knowledge systemsBridging knowledge systems

Climate science uses modern monitoring and forecasting systems to generate and provide a wide range of information on past, present and future

Local decision making: information & other factors e.g. social networks, local loyalties, cultural values, intuition, beliefs and age-old trust in traditional predictive systems

Ordinary people experience great difficulties in making their voice heard by scientists

Communication challenges between all of the above

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The traditional knowledge of Mbororo The traditional knowledge of Mbororo people allows them to predict people allows them to predict atmospheric conditionsatmospheric conditions

EXEMPLESThe size and the shape of fruits

produced by a certain palm tree may indicate whether or not the coming year will be good

Abundant offspring of a certain type of lizard is a predictor of a good season

Changes in the direction of the wind from East to West are an indicator of rain that will last for days

Although the sky may be clear, the occurrence of a particular insect species indicates that it is about to rain

WayWay forwardforward

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Participatory use of tested ICTs to document Traditional Knowledge

Way forwardWay forward

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Multi-stakeholder dialogue and exchange

THANK YOU

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hindououmar@gmail.comwww.afpattchad.org www.ipacc.org.za

www.cta.int