Paper long abstract:

Climate change remains a global problem with the current discourse shifting towards developing sustainable mitigation and adaptation measures to contain its effects. Notable adverse impacts include declining water and forestry resources; changes in distribution of fauna and flora with destruction of biodiversity; reduced agricultural productivity; spread of pathogens and vector-borne diseases; and catastrophic weather and climatic conditions. This highlights how climate change is deterrent to human development. Given the crosscutting nature of the impacts of climate change, a holistic approach is required which involves collection of knowledge, ingenuity, and action of all stakeholders for instance, indigenous communities affected by climate change. Significant efforts have been made in developing resilience mechanisms to withstand the effects of climate change. However, it is the absence of Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) in the Zimbabwean policy framework that emerges as a cause of concern. It is noted with concern that most contemporary Zimbabweans believe that IKS is primitive and irrelevant. However, in the face of the increasing impacts of climate change, traditional knowledge and practices are being researched, revived, and repackaged to build up resilience to climate hazards. This study builds on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s agenda to increase the recognition and fostering of the use of local and indigenous knowledge on improving adaptation and building resilient communities. It utilises the Afrocentric theoretical lens to locate and discuss the indigenous-based knowledge capable of informing our understanding of climate change at local level. Methodologically, the researchers utilise ROSES (RepOrting standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses) conducting of environmental systematic reviews to garner relevant data. Data collected will be analysed using Thematic Content Analysis.

Key Words: Climate Change; Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS); Afrocentricity; Adaptation; ROSES; Zimbabwe.