LOCAL INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE

SYSTEMS AND PRACTICES AND THEIR

CONTRIBUTION TO CLIMATE RESILIENCE OF

COMMUNITIES IN THE SADC REGION

PRESENTED AT THE 6TH SADC RBOS WORKSHOP ON

STRENGTHENING REGIONAL COOPERATION AND RESILIENCE IN WATER

RELATED DISASTERS

OCTOBER 15TH – 17TH 2014

Qand’elihle G. Simelane

An adult squatting sees farther than a child on top of a tree- Gambian

Proverb

CLIMATE VARIABILITY & CHANGE

Climate variability: shorter term (daily, seasonal,

annual, inter-annual, several years) variations in

climate, including the fluctuations associated with

dry or wet events.

Climate change: long-term (decades or longer)

trends in climate averages such as the global

warming that has been observed over the past

century, and long-term changes in variability (e.g. in

the frequency, severity and duration of extreme

events).

SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE FOR

CLIMATE CHANGE…

The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report

highlights the challenge that

documentation of observed changes in

tropical regions and the southern

hemisphere is sparse.

There is near consensus that long-term

natural variability underlies much of the

long-term natural variability in 20th

century climate change.

A CASE FOR LIKSP…

The degree to which the IPCC is capable of

generating usable knowledge is largely politically

circumscribed. The state of scientific understanding of

the key global systems that affect global warming

remains relatively immature.

This makes the study on indigenous knowledge, perceptions and

lived experiences of local people necessary.

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE DEFINED…

Indigenous knowledge is developed and adapted

continuously to gradually changing environments and

passed down from generation to generation and closely

interwoven with people’s cultural values.

Indigenous knowledge, which emerges as a result of the

people’s close relationship with the environment, is also

the social capital of the poor, their main asset to invest in

the struggle for survival, to provide for shelter or to

achieve control of their own lives.

Indigenous knowledge is local, experiential, holistic, and

oral.

LIKSP, CLIMATE VARIABILITY & CHANGE

Increased rainfall variability in Southern

African attributed to climate change.

Rural communities have over decades,

relied on indigenous methods for

forecasting the seasons and coping with

numerous weather-related stressors.

Combining local indigenous knowledge

systems and practices (LIKSP) with

conventional scientific forecasts could

contribute to the building of more robust

mitigation and adaptation measures.

STUDY METHODOLOGY

14 country studies on “Local

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and

Practices in SADC” were

commissioned by the SADC/GIZ

Transboundary Water Resources

Management Programme, to identify

local knowledge and practices that

have been used to adapt to climate

variability with regards to water

extremes.

STUDY METHODOLOGY

The traditional calendar was explored-

investigating the hypothesis that historical

climate change.

Historical climate change may be reflected in

such a historical calendar of events where

months of the year were named according to

the events occurring at the time of the year.

A change in the climate, reflected in the

indigenous knowledge, practices, calendar

and local language, would naturally instigate

a response in humans.

EVOLUTION AND APPLICATION OF LIKSPIndigenous knowledge is evolved through a

nexus and adopts the nexus approach in its

application.

There is a heavy dependence on local

indigenous knowledge in rural communities

to predict rain events, droughts and season

quality in general.

INDIGENOUS PERCEPTIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

A general consensus that: weather was becoming increasingly difficult to predict;

wet seasons were now predominantly characterized by late onset of rains;

rainy seasons are shorter;

rainfall distribution is skewed;

intense rainstorms are more frequent;

hail and drought now occur more frequently and within the same season and

uncharacteristically long dry spells are a more common occurrence.

Climate change and the associated loss of some indicators for weather prediction from the areas of origin are threatening indigenous knowledge forecasting systems.

INDIGENOUS LOCAL KNOWLEDGE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

ADAPTATION

Taboos, Natural Resource Protection & Environment

Sustainability

Do not urinate into water, and not stream water or else

the family cows will give birth in the river.

Springs water protection, water extraction and cycles of

groundwater

Wild life protection- flora and fauna

Kutila in Swaziland or upholding the Chisi day in

Zimbabwe

No weddings in the month of November (Zimbabwe)

Respect the elderly and people with disabilities

Taboo behaviour when it rains- thunder and lightning.

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES FOR

DISASTER RISK REDUCTION

Preparatory Strategies

Flood protection practices, Namibia and Mozambique.

The Kuomboka ceremony of the Lozi people

Drought preparedness, e.g. Mahangu reserves (Namibia)

Location of the villages on foothills and at the valleys within wind shadows of the mountains to avoid wind damage on infrastructure.

Contributions (labour, implements) to the ZunderaMambo ‘social safety’ nets.

Food Security Strategies.

EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS

Short Term Weather Prediction

Wind:

‘wind blowing from the land is the husband the goes to the sea to meet the wife and the result is the rain.’

Matlakadibe

TladimothwanaLiyahlohla

Biological Indicators: Birds & other animals

Clouds

Natural Water Springs

Hydrological Activity

LONG TERM PREDICTION

The Traditional Calendar and the Hydrological Year

The traditional calendar does not begin in January. The

calendar is related to the rainy season and begins in

spring. The 12 months of the year were named after

particular events, most of which revolved around food

security and climatic events

The Hydrological Year & Indigenous People’s

Perceptions on climate

The traditional year of Basotho starts in August, when it

was the month of the onset of rain and as a result, spring

The rainy began in July (Kholwane) spanning till April in

Swaziland.

KNOWN RAINFALL EPISODES MARKING SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN

THE LOCAL TRADITIONAL CALENDAR

In Zimbabwe:

Mavhurachando (opening of winter) in May or beginning of June, where occurrence of these rains marked the beginning of the winter season

Gukurahundi (clearing of crop residues, imbotisamahlanga in SiSwati or kgogolamoko in Botswana) in August, marking the end of threshing and winnowing of grains.

Nhuruka which literally means kick-starting the season was a known rainfall episode in October and/or beginning of November

Bumharutsva (cleaning the landscape of ash and soot after wild veld fires) in September

Bvumiramitondo (hastening the budding of new leaves of Mutondo tree

October itself was meant to be when the Impalas give birth

PLANTSPlant phenology, especially the fruiting of trees is a

good indicator of the nature of the season ahead.

One common method of predicting drought is by

paying attention to the flowering & fruiting of the

plants during spring.

Plenty of wild fruits mean a period of hunger lies

ahead.

In contrast, exotic mangoes were said to flower

and fruit abundantly in years of good harvest, and

hence good rains.

CELESTIAL BODIESThe “Pitso” is indicative of heavy rains and filling up of ponds with a lot of rain –water.

The picture was taken in December, and as could be predicted, there were good rains thereafter.

The angle of tilt of the new moon is a sign of rains in the period ahead (plenty of rains).

In Zambia, a young or half-moon for instance is associated with drought while a full moon is associated with rain.

If there is no ‘perceptible’ tilt, there will be no rains and drought if not a dry period

lies ahead.

RESPONSE STRATEGIES

The smallest unit of response in rural communities

was the household and not an individual. From

household, it then radiates to village and/or

community scales where there is a lot of influence

and dependence from outside the household.

Indicators for a poor season trigger households to:

Start looking of extra avenues for food, including

sending out search parties (kusunza).

Harvesting non-timber forest products food and

marketing

Looking for appropriate seed varieties with high chances

to pull through the drought or preparing basins.

RECOVERY AND COPING STRATEGIES

Coping mechanisms

Movements across agro-ecological

zones, in different seasons

A combination of many activities

Post Trauma Strategies

Abandoning upper fields and moving to

lower fields, vlei margins.

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION

Throughout history, the adjustment of natural and

human systems to climate change and climate

variability has been the rule rather than the

exception. As a matter of survival, humans have

always adopted to changes.

Climate change adaptation is a dynamic social

process determined in part by our ability to act

collectively.

SOCIAL ARGUMENTS CALLING MAINSTREAMING LIKSP INTO

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION

A call for a multi sectoral approach to climate change

adaptation

Sensitisation of River Basin Organisations on indigenous

community leadership, knowledge and practices

Documentation and dissemination of local indigenous

knowledge and practices for forecasting

Introduction of indigenous knowledge and practices into the

school curriculum.

Institutionalization, Promotion and Commercialization of

Indigenous Knowledge & Practices

Protection of ecologically sensitive sites

FOR THE RBOS

Sensitise water resource managers, river basin

organisations (RBOs) about the knowledge and

practices so that these knowledge and practices can

be institutionalized.

Formal water basin authorities/ structures should take

into cognizance local practices and build on them.

Cooperation between water, forestry and land use

planning (agriculture, environment).

Need to recognise traditional leaders and the role they

can play in building climate resilience.

A MULTI SECTORAL APPROACH

There is need to develop and strengthen

functional linkages with the agriculture

sector as well as indigenous community

leadership.

Concerns of rural people and hence their

responses to extreme weather events do

not necessarily focus on water resources,

but food security; food production systems

and housing, as well beyond issues of

lifestyle, personal hygiene and social

cohesion.

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES IN THE

SCHOOL CURRICULUM

Indigenous knowledge is shown to be largely valid

and rarely contradicts science.

The shift in the hydrological year reported as

evidence for climate change is in synchrony with

available records.

Some of the local indigenous knowledge systems

may be introduced into primary school curriculum in

social studies or through school environmental

pacts or clubs if not in life skills lessons.

Some of the practices present investigable

hypotheses, including those related to

climatological triggers for plant phenology.

CONCLUSIONS The knowledge is typical and belongs to peoples from

specific places with common cultural and social ties.

Indigenous knowledge reflects how such forms of

knowledge address local problems and solutions that are

context specific.

A careful amalgamation of indigenous and foreign

knowledge would be most promising.