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Short abstract:

There have been numerous discourses on climate change; however, a call for a proactive approach to halt the envisaged ruin is indispensable. This paper calls on African researchers to delve into their indigenous science for proactive approaches toward addressing the climate change crisis.

Long abstract:

It is an indisputable truism that in a fragile and conflict-affected setting with limited governance, political instability and visionless leadership, communities are ill-equipped to cope with a changing climate and associated environmental hazards. Although there have been numerous discourses on climate change and the consequent environmental hazards, a call for proactive approach to halting the envisaged ruin is indispensable. This paper, therefore, is a clarion call on Africans to delve into their indigenous science systems for proactive approaches toward addressing the climate change crisis. Unfortunately, one major challenge that may likely bedevil this call is the erroneous belief that African traditional ideas and practices are fetish. This paper will argue that climate science, like other branches of knowledge, needs to be broadened and decolonized and that Africa should search within its knowledge systems for appropriate ideas and approaches to many of its development challenges. Also, it will examine how our growing vulnerability could be addressed through the collaboration of western science and environmental education with relevant African science. Additionally, this study will discuss how African researchers and their counterparts in the global north can tap into the vital and time-tested resources of the African indigenous science system. The effects of climate change and environmental hazards on the socio-economic activities of Africans will also be reviewed. However, it expresses optimism that indigenous knowledge and practice can contribute toward managing natural resources, environmental protection, and climate change adaptation in Africa. Possible ways of achieving these will be suggested in the full paper.