Paper short abstract:

While Africa stands to gain form global science and international best practices, the continent should search within its own knowledge systems for appropriate ideas and approaches to many of its development challenges, including the challenge of climate change.

Paper long abstract:

Africa contributes least to, but suffers the most from the disastrous consequences of climate change. How can the continent cope better with the worsening threats of flooding, drought and other emergencies that result from extreme weather conditions. The paper underscores the value and continuing relevance of indigenous local knowledge for environmental protection and climate change adaptation in Africa. It argues that while Africa stands to gain from global science and international best practices, the continent should search within its own knowledge systems for appropriate ideas and approaches to many of its development challenges, and that indigenous knowledge may provide a model for rethinking and decolonizing climate science. Local communities in different parts of Africa have over the years developed intricate systems of forecasting weather systems in order to prevent and mitigate natural disasters; traditional techniques of soil management, pest and disease control, adopting suitable crop and animal varieties, and other coping strategies that have ensured traditional resilience. Researchers and the development community should, therefore, try to tap into the vital resource of indigenous knowledge for locally appropriate and culture-sensitive ways to engage with the environment, and adapt to the negative impacts of climate change. The paper concludes with some general reflections on the indigenous knowledge movement as an appropriate local response to globalization and Western knowledge dominance, and as a way to underscore the fact of epistemic diversity and the need for inter-cultural dialogue.