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Paper short abstract

Decolonial praxis grounded in Indigenous Knowledge Systems offers sustainable pathways for tropical Africa amid global uncertainty. Centering African agency, epistemic justice, and participatory governance, the study shows how indigenous practices reshape the society for sustainable development.

Paper long abstract

In an era of overlapping climate, economic, and governance uncertainties, dominant development paradigms continue to marginalize Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) through technocratic, externally driven interventions. This paper critically examines decolonial praxis grounded in IKS as a pathway toward sustainable development in tropical Africa, aligning with calls to reimagine development through power, agency, and futures-oriented thinking. Drawing on African decolonial theory, political ecology, and post-development scholarship, the study interrogates how epistemic hierarchies reproduce development inequalities while constraining locally rooted responses to uncertainty.

Methodologically, the paper adopts a qualitative, interpretive approach, combining critical discourse analysis of development policies with secondary case-based analysis drawn from agrarian, ecological, and resource-governance contexts across tropical Africa. This approach enables an examination of how indigenous practices such as communal land stewardship, agroecological farming, and customary water governance function as adaptive, future-facing systems rather than residual traditions.

The findings demonstrate that IKS-based practices enhance resilience, environmental sustainability, and social cohesion, yet remain systematically excluded from formal policy frameworks. By conceptualizing decoloniality as praxis, the paper highlights how local actors actively negotiate knowledge, power, and modernity in pursuit of plural developmental futures. The analysis advances concrete policy implications, arguing for the institutional recognition of IKS, participatory governance mechanisms, and epistemic inclusion in sustainability planning. The paper concludes that reimagining development in tropical Africa requires redistributing decision-making power and embedding indigenous agency at the center of sustainable futures-making, positioning the region as a generator of globally relevant development alternatives.