Indigenous Knowledge Ethics For Climate Change Adaptation And Coloniality In Africa

Even though the importance of indigenous knowledge is gradually being recognized in development studies, little attention had been given in research to the value of indigenous knowledge in climate change adaptation. This book takes up many of the research challenges articulated in the UN-commissioned Millennium Ecosystem Assessment which highlighted many uncertainties that exist about climate change issues. This book aims to address these challenges in a localized context by providing a robust evidence-base that supports improved implementation of climate change adaptation schemes in rural Africa. That is, to set up negotiations within the climate change adaptation agenda in ways that the ‘western scientific’ and ‘local-traditional practices’ can work together ethically, seriously and respectfully to combat climate change in the African continent. Interactions between indigenous knowledge systems and climate change adaptation, and resulting feedbacks are dynamic, location and time-specific, occurring at different scales, and responding to different drivers. Climate change and its adaptation strategies must be addressed as dynamic, multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral and multi-dimensional. This book will be useful to academia, community development practitioners, government and non-governmental organizations, consultants and practitioners, and students in the field of rural sociology and sustainable development, and will add to the literature that is beginning to build around indigenous knowledge and sustainable development in Africa.