Final thoughts: Indigenous Knowledge Systems for the future?

Sub-Saharan Africa has been identified as one of the most vulnerable regions to the impacts of climate change (IPCC, 2014). It already has some of the most variable rates of rainfall and river discharge in the world largely due to the influence of the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) (McMahon et al., 2007), as well as the some of the lowest levels of national manmade capacities to store water per capita. Its climate variability has disproportionate effects on water resources especially due to non-linearities in climate impacts; a 10% drop in rainfall reduces river discharge by 17%-50% and the effect of this will intensify with climate change (de Wit and Stankiewicz, 2006). Changes in rainfall, annual temperatures, soil quality, and weather patterns have compounded recent food challenges, particularly in the two thirds of sub-Saharan Africa that lies outside the equatorial humid zone, through increased droughts, lowered water tables and salinisation. 

Mean of the % change in the aridity index in a 2 degree world (left) and a 4 degree world (right) for SSA by 2071-2099 relative to 1951-1980. Note that a negative change corresponds to a shift to more arid conditions and vice versa (Coumou et al., 2016).

Indigenous Knowledge Systems can be incorporated into adaption strategies that best benefit rural farmers in the face of climate change which will exacerbate food insecurity and water scarcity in sub-Saharan Africa. 

"Indigenous people are on the frontline of climate change." - Survival International.

 

Indigenous communities in sub-Saharan Africa are particularly at risk of climate change which will be compounded by the ongoing effects of "political and economic marginalization, loss of land and resources, human rights violations, discrimination and unemployment"(UN, 2020). However, they also have knowledge systems that are highly-attuned and adapted to the existing natural variability of local environments (including hazards and water stresses) which can increase community resilience and rural livelihood security in the face of global environmental change. 

Indigenous knowledge and information from local social networks have been used by smallholder rural farmers to anticipate climate variability and accordingly adjust farming practices (Kolawole et al., 2014). Ethno-meteorological knowledge relating to historical rainfall patterns and weather observations has informed farmer crop management strategies (i.e. planting time, fertilising, pesticide application and weeding) in Lesotho, South Africa and Botswana (Moeletsi et al., 2013). Rural farmers have used indicators like cloud cover, wind circulation, animal behaviour and tree phenology in their 'Indigenous forecasts' which are often preferred over scientific weather modelling (Jiri et al., 2016). For example, the arrival of the migratory bird the southern hornbill in Zimbabwe and Zambia is used as an indicator for intense rainfall as they use weather fronts to provide them with tailwinds (Liechti, 2006). In the video below, environmental activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim describes how her pastoralist community in Chad is working with scientists to preserve biodiversity which is being threatened by the increasing frequency of drought. 

Climate change will likely increase the spatial and temporal variability of water in the savanna (semi-arid and sub-humid) environments that predominate in sub-Saharan Africa, making the need for agriculture adaptations to have a positive impact on water resources and management more critical. In semi-arid areas of Niger, small-scale farmers are using Indigenous techniques including planting pits to harvest rainwater which has increased nutrient availability, improves soil cover and reduces downstream flooding (FAO, 2010). They are also turning to indigenous grains like millets and sorghums which are more drought-resistant and higher-yielding in water scarce conditions than crops like maize, and management techniques such as mulching that increase water retention by reducing soil runoff and moisture evaporation (Ajani, Mgbenka & Okeke, 2013).  

Overall...

Throughout my blog, I have developed a critical voice towards Western representations of sub-Saharan Africa and food and water security issues within it. I've explored how agricultural production and irrigation systems were profoundly impacted by sub-Saharan Africa's colonial period, and how a neo-colonial agenda persists across the region today via the influence of external forces. I've weighed up different solutions, from top-down projects like integrated river basin management using the water-energy-food nexus, to privately-funded and community-managed local technologies. And I've looked at the range of socio-ecological challenges that sub-Saharan Africa will face as it ventures through the age of the Anthropocene, like Covid-19 and climate change. 

What has become clear, is that the best solutions to sub-Saharan Africa's food and water insecurity issues are localised and contextualised within both human and natural systems. Indigenous Knowledge Systems are a perfect example of this.  

I hope you have enjoyed my blog!