This presentation gives an overview of the role of LIKSP in water resources management and how they can contribute to increasing climate resilience in the region, informed by a review of research carried out in 14 member SADC states. It reflects that local communities have been dealing with climate variability for generations and have learned to adapt their lives and livelihoods to the water cycle. Thus, new adaptation measures for the water sector must build on such knowledge. The presentation highlights the link between the different local indigenous indicators with conventional forecasting systems still requires an in-depth exploration, and points to indications that the two knowledge systems complement each other, and their reconciliation may be invaluable to the development of preparedness to climate change impacts. The identification of relevant, reliable and more robust local indicators which could be useful in determining changes natural and water resources, and the environment, while contributing to food security issues among rural communities would be vital for this purpose. The nature, form and relevance of any indicator must be known by community members and useable if it is to be useful in policy formulation. Community engagement should be taken as the first step by researchers and policy makers, during the research and documentation processes, otherwise some of the information will remain locked within.

1. LOCAL INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE
SYSTEMS AND PRACTICES AND THEIR
CONTRIBUTION TO CLIMATE RESILIENCE OF
COMMUNITIES IN THE SADC REGION
PRESENTED AT THE 6TH SADC RBOS WORKSHOP ON
STRENGTHENING REGIONAL COOPERATION AND RESILIENCE IN WATER
RELATED DISASTERS
OCTOBER 15TH – 17TH 2014
Qand’elihle G. Simelane

2. An adult squatting sees farther than
a child on top of a tree- Gambian
Proverb

3. CLIMATE VARIABILITY & CHANGE
 Climate variability: shorter term (daily, seasonal,
annual, inter-annual, several years) variations in
climate, including the fluctuations associated with
dry or wet events.
 Climate change: long-term (decades or longer)
trends in climate averages such as the global
warming that has been observed over the past
century, and long-term changes in variability (e.g. in
the frequency, severity and duration of extreme
events).

4. SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE FOR
CLIMATE CHANGE…
The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report
highlights the challenge that
documentation of observed changes in
tropical regions and the southern
hemisphere is sparse.
There is near consensus that long-term
natural variability underlies much of the
long-term natural variability in 20th
century climate change.

5. A CASE FOR LIKSP…
The degree to which the IPCC is capable of
generating usable knowledge is largely politically
circumscribed. The state of scientific understanding of
the key global systems that affect global warming
remains relatively immature.
This makes the study on indigenous knowledge, perceptions and
lived experiences of local people necessary.

6. INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE DEFINED…
 Indigenous knowledge is developed and adapted
continuously to gradually changing environments and
passed down from generation to generation and closely
interwoven with people’s cultural values.
 Indigenous knowledge, which emerges as a result of the
people’s close relationship with the environment, is also
the social capital of the poor, their main asset to invest in
the struggle for survival, to provide for shelter or to
achieve control of their own lives.
 Indigenous knowledge is local, experiential, holistic, and
oral.

7. LIKSP, CLIMATE VARIABILITY & CHANGE
Increased rainfall variability in Southern
African attributed to climate change.
Rural communities have over decades,
relied on indigenous methods for
forecasting the seasons and coping with
numerous weather-related stressors.
Combining local indigenous knowledge
systems and practices (LIKSP) with
conventional scientific forecasts could
contribute to the building of more robust
mitigation and adaptation measures.

8. STUDY METHODOLOGY
14 country studies on “Local
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and
Practices in SADC” were
commissioned by the SADC/GIZ
Transboundary Water Resources
Management Programme, to identify
local knowledge and practices that
have been used to adapt to climate
variability with regards to water
extremes.

9. STUDY METHODOLOGY
 The traditional calendar was explored-investigating
the hypothesis that historical
climate change.
 Historical climate change may be reflected in
such a historical calendar of events where
months of the year were named according to
the events occurring at the time of the year.
 A change in the climate, reflected in the
indigenous knowledge, practices, calendar
and local language, would naturally instigate
a response in humans.

10. EVOLUTION AND APPLICATION OF LIKSP
Indigenous knowledge is evolved through a
nexus and adopts the nexus approach in its
application.
There is a heavy dependence on local
indigenous knowledge in rural communities
to predict rain events, droughts and season
quality in general.

11. INDIGENOUS PERCEPTIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
A general consensus that:
 weather was becoming increasingly difficult to predict;
 wet seasons were now predominantly characterized by late
onset of rains;
 rainy seasons are shorter;
 rainfall distribution is skewed;
 intense rainstorms are more frequent;
 hail and drought now occur more frequently and within the
same season and
 uncharacteristically long dry spells are a more common
occurrence.
 Climate change and the associated loss of some indicators for
weather prediction from the areas of origin are threatening
indigenous knowledge forecasting systems.

12. INDIGENOUS LOCAL KNOWLEDGE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE
ADAPTATION
Taboos, Natural Resource Protection & Environment
Sustainability
 Do not urinate into water, and not stream water or else
the family cows will give birth in the river.
 Springs water protection, water extraction and cycles of
groundwater
 Wild life protection- flora and fauna
 Kutila in Swaziland or upholding the Chisi day in
Zimbabwe
 No weddings in the month of November (Zimbabwe)
 Respect the elderly and people with disabilities
 Taboo behaviour when it rains- thunder and lightning.

13. INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES FOR
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
Preparatory Strategies
 Flood protection practices, Namibia and
Mozambique.
 The Kuomboka ceremony of the Lozi people
 Drought preparedness, e.g. Mahangu reserves
(Namibia)
 Location of the villages on foothills and at the
valleys within wind shadows of the mountains to
avoid wind damage on infrastructure.
 Contributions (labour, implements) to the Zundera
Mambo ‘social safety’ nets.
 Food Security Strategies.

14. EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS
Short Term Weather Prediction
Wind:
‘wind blowing from the land is the husband the
goes to the sea to meet the wife and the result
is the rain.’
Matlakadibe
Tladimothwana
Liyahlohla
Biological Indicators: Birds & other animals
Clouds
Natural Water Springs
Hydrological Activity

15. LONG TERM PREDICTION
The Traditional Calendar and the Hydrological Year
The traditional calendar does not begin in January. The
calendar is related to the rainy season and begins in
spring. The 12 months of the year were named after
particular events, most of which revolved around food
security and climatic events
The Hydrological Year & Indigenous People’s
Perceptions on climate
The traditional year of Basotho starts in August, when it
was the month of the onset of rain and as a result, spring
The rainy began in July (Kholwane) spanning till April in
Swaziland.

16. KNOWN RAINFALL EPISODES MARKING SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN
THE LOCAL TRADITIONAL CALENDAR
In Zimbabwe:
 Mavhurachando (opening of winter) in May or beginning of
June, where occurrence of these rains marked the beginning
of the winter season
 Gukurahundi (clearing of crop residues, imbotisamahlanga in
SiSwati or kgogolamoko in Botswana) in August, marking the
end of threshing and winnowing of grains.
 Nhuruka which literally means kick-starting the season was a
known rainfall episode in October and/or beginning of
November
 Bumharutsva (cleaning the landscape of ash and soot after
wild veld fires) in September
 Bvumiramitondo (hastening the budding of new leaves of
Mutondo tree
 October itself was meant to be when the Impalas give birth

17. PLANTS
Plant phenology, especially the fruiting of trees is a
good indicator of the nature of the season ahead.
One common method of predicting drought is by
paying attention to the flowering & fruiting of the
plants during spring.
Plenty of wild fruits mean a period of hunger lies
ahead.
In contrast, exotic mangoes were said to flower
and fruit abundantly in years of good harvest, and
hence good rains.

18. CELESTIAL BODIES
The “Pitso” is indicative of
heavy rains and filling up of
ponds with a lot of rain –
water.
The picture was taken in
December, and as could be
predicted, there were good
rains thereafter.
The angle of tilt of the new
moon is a sign of rains in the
period ahead (plenty of
rains).
In Zambia, a young or half-moon
for instance is
associated with drought
while a full moon is
associated with rain.
If there is no ‘perceptible’ tilt, there will be no rains and drought if not a dry period
lies ahead.

19. RESPONSE STRATEGIES
 The smallest unit of response in rural communities
was the household and not an individual. From
household, it then radiates to village and/or
community scales where there is a lot of influence
and dependence from outside the household.
Indicators for a poor season trigger households to:
Start looking of extra avenues for food, including
sending out search parties (kusunza).
Harvesting non-timber forest products food and
marketing
Looking for appropriate seed varieties with high chances
to pull through the drought or preparing basins.

20. RECOVERY AND COPING STRATEGIES
Coping mechanisms
Movements across agro-ecological
zones, in different seasons
A combination of many activities
Post Trauma Strategies
Abandoning upper fields and moving to
lower fields, vlei margins.

21. CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION
Throughout history, the adjustment of natural and
human systems to climate change and climate
variability has been the rule rather than the
exception. As a matter of survival, humans have
always adopted to changes.
Climate change adaptation is a dynamic social
process determined in part by our ability to act
collectively.

22. SOCIAL ARGUMENTS CALLING MAINSTREAMING LIKSP INTO
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION
 A call for a multi sectoral approach to climate change
adaptation
 Sensitisation of River Basin Organisations on indigenous
community leadership, knowledge and practices
 Documentation and dissemination of local indigenous
knowledge and practices for forecasting
 Introduction of indigenous knowledge and practices into the
school curriculum.
 Institutionalization, Promotion and Commercialization of
Indigenous Knowledge & Practices
 Protection of ecologically sensitive sites

23. FOR THE RBOS
Sensitise water resource managers, river basin
organisations (RBOs) about the knowledge and
practices so that these knowledge and practices can
be institutionalized.
Formal water basin authorities/ structures should take
into cognizance local practices and build on them.
Cooperation between water, forestry and land use
planning (agriculture, environment).
Need to recognise traditional leaders and the role they
can play in building climate resilience.

24. A MULTI SECTORAL APPROACH
There is need to develop and strengthen
functional linkages with the agriculture
sector as well as indigenous community
leadership.
Concerns of rural people and hence their
responses to extreme weather events do
not necessarily focus on water resources,
but food security; food production systems
and housing, as well beyond issues of
lifestyle, personal hygiene and social
cohesion.

25. INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES IN THE
SCHOOL CURRICULUM
Indigenous knowledge is shown to be largely valid
and rarely contradicts science.
The shift in the hydrological year reported as
evidence for climate change is in synchrony with
available records.
Some of the local indigenous knowledge systems
may be introduced into primary school curriculum in
social studies or through school environmental
pacts or clubs if not in life skills lessons.
Some of the practices present investigable
hypotheses, including those related to
climatological triggers for plant phenology.

26. CONCLUSIONS
 The knowledge is typical and belongs to peoples from
specific places with common cultural and social ties.
 Indigenous knowledge reflects how such forms of
knowledge address local problems and solutions that are
context specific.
 A careful amalgamation of indigenous and foreign
knowledge would be most promising.