Utilizing Indigenous Knowledge Systems on Climate Change for Forestry Conservation in Kenya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54536/ajec.v2i3.1976Keywords:
Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Forest Conservation, Climate Change, KenyaAbstract
Forest conservation is important in climate change mitigation. The Indigenous Knowledge (IK) or Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) has recently been recognised in forest conservation for climate change mitigation. The potential use of IKS in climate change management in Sub-Saharan Africa including Kenya is unknown. Numerous analytical postulations detailing how to integrate IKS in climate change management have been formulated. However, this information is fragmented and mostly lost in sociology literature. This paper briefly reviews the indigenous knowledge related to different aspects of forest resource management. This review delves at in-depth information on the IKS and climate change management in Sub-Saharan Africa, emphasizing Kenya. For this review, the scooping review methodology was used to describe the state of knowledge and map the available evidence of the role of IKS for forest conservation and climate change adaptation. It discusses the role of IKS in climate change management in Sub-Saharan Africa and the potential application of the IKS in preventing adverse climate change effects. The integration of IKS to guide the climate change management have been evaluated and the threats to IKS and their conservation deliberated. It is generally observed that in many rural communities in Kenya, IKS is useful for enhanced food production, forest conservation and natural disaster management. But being culture-specific, IKS can be adopted across communities in SSA for real time management of climate change.
Downloads
References
Abbass, K., Qasim, M. Z., Song, H., Murshed, M., Mahmood, H. and Younis, I. (2022). A review of the global climate change impacts, adaptation, and sustainable mitigation measures. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 29(28), 42539-42559.
Ajadi, B.S. (2021). Comparative analysis of indigenous and modern knowledge system of in-situ forest biodiversity conservation in Southwestern Nigeria, University of Ilorin.
Akinrinwoye, C. O., Twumasi, Y. A., Ning, Z. H., Namwamba, J. B. and Oppong, J. (2023). Modeling Rainfall with Respect to Land Cover and Population in the Niger Delta Area Nigeria for the Period 1990-2040. American Journal of Environment and Climate. 2(3), 1-14.
Amutabi, M. (2013). 9 The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Environmental Conservation in Africa. Landscape, Environment and Technology in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa. 6(228).
Andersson, R.-H., Cothran, B., Kekki, S. and Kekki, S. (2021). Traditional Indigenous Knowledge and Nature Protection. Cultural Concepts: 1.
Balogun, T. (2023). Data management of digitized indigenous knowledge system in repositories. Information Development: 02666669231186777.
Balogun, T. and Kalusopa, T. (2021). A framework for digital preservation of Indigenous knowledge system (IKS) in repositories in South Africa. Records Management Journal, 31(2), 176-196.
Battiste, M. (2016). Research ethics for chapter protecting Indigenous knowledge and heritage. Ethical futures in qualitative research: Decolonizing the politics of knowledge. 111.
Bol, G. K. and van Niekerk, D. (2023). African Indigenous Understanding of Climate Change and Disaster Risk Nexus, Geohazards and Disaster Risk Reduction: Multidisciplinary and Integrated Approaches. Springer, 269-289.
Borona, G. K. (2017). Investigating people-forest relationships around central Kenya’s Nyandarwa forest reserve: understanding their sustainability through indigenous knowledge systems, University of British Columbia.
Borona, K. (2019). Reclaiming indigenous knowledge systems: Towards sustainable people-forest relationships in Kenya. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Chanza, N. and de Wit, A. (2015). Rediscovering indigenous climate knowledge for better responses to climate change: insights from Muzarabani. The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses, 6(3-4), 19.
Cheserek, G. (2005). Indigenous knowledge in water and watershed management: “Marakwet” conservation strategies and techniques. FWU Water Resources Publications, 3(25-33).
Darr, B., Pretzsch, J., Depzinsky, T., Darr, B., Pretzsch, J. and Depzinsky, T. (2009). Traditional forest perception and its relevance for forest conservation among the Tiriki in Kenya. Traditional forest-related knowledge and sustainable forest management in Africa. 23(113-120).
David-Chavez, D. M. and Gavin, M. C. (2018). A global assessment of Indigenous community engagement in climate research. Environmental Research Letters, 13(12), 123005.
De Frenne, P., Lenoir, J., Luoto, M., Scheffers, B.R., Zellweger, F., Aalto, J., Ashcroft, M.B., Christiansen, D.M., Decocq, G. and De Pauw, K. (2021). Forest microclimates and climate change: Importance, drivers and future research agenda. Global Change Biology, 27(11), 2279-2297.
Dilangalen, A. K. (2022). The Fight Against Climate Change: Adaptive and Strategies Activities Among Farmers. American Journal of Environment and Climate. 1(2), 9-14.
Diver, S. (2017). Negotiating Indigenous knowledge at the science-policy interface: Insights from the Xáxli’p Community Forest. Environmental Science & Policy, 73(1-11).
Downing, T., Olago, D. and Nyumba, T. (2023). Perceptions of Ecosystem Services and Climate Change in the Communities Surrounding Mt. Kenya and Mt. Elgon, Kenya. Sustainability, 15(14), 11470.
Edgar, B. A., Eva, M. P. and Lee, K. S. (2022). Disappearance of African Indigenous Knowledge of Water Conservation and Management in Limpopo Province of South Africa: An IKS Perspective. African Journal of Development Studies, 12(2), 49.
Ens, E., Reyes-García, V., Asselin, H., Hsu, M., Reimerson, E., Reihana, K., Sithole, B., Shen, X., Cavanagh, V. and Adams, M. (2021). Recognition of indigenous ecological knowledge systems in conservation and their role to narrow the knowledge-implementation gap. Closing the Knowledge-Implementation Gap in Conservation Science: Interdisciplinary Evidence Transfer Across Sectors and Spatiotemporal Scales: 109-139.
Fletcher, M. S., Hamilton, R., Dressler, W. and Palmer, L. (2021). Indigenous knowledge and the shackles of wilderness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(40), e2022218118.
Ford, J. D., Cameron, L., Rubis, J., Maillet, M., Nakashima, D., Willox, A. C. and Pearce, T. (2016). Including indigenous knowledge and experience in IPCC assessment reports. Nature Climate Change, 6(4), 349-353.
Fredrick, G. S. M. O. S. (2020). Factors Influencing Good Governance in Forest Management and Protection: A Case Study of Mt. Elgon Forest Reserve, Kenya.
Gathogo, J. (2013). Environmental management and African indigenous resources: echoes from Mutira Mission, Kenya (1912-2012). Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 39(2), 33-56.
Harris, N. L., Gibbs, D. A., Baccini, A., Birdsey, R. A., De Bruin, S., Farina, M., Fatoyinbo, L., Hansen, M. C., Herold, M. and Houghton, R. A. (2021). Global maps of twenty-first century forest carbon fluxes. Nature Climate Change, 11(3), 234-240.
Ingty, T. (2017). High mountain communities and climate change: adaptation, traditional ecological knowledge, and institutions. Climatic Change, 145(1-2), 41-55.
Jeruto, P., Lukhoba, C., Ouma, G., Otieno, D. and Mutai, C. (2008). An ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by the Nandi people in Kenya. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 116(2), 370-376.
Kalele, D. N., Ogara, W. O., Oludhe, C. and Onono, J. O. (2021). Climate change impacts and relevance of smallholder farmers’ response in arid and semi-arid lands in Kenya. Scientific African, 12(e00814).
Kavu, S., Kajongwe, C. and Ebhuoma, E. E. (2022). Climate change experts’ perspective on the role of indigenous knowledge systems in climate change adaptation in Southern Africa, Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Governance: A Sub-Saharan African Perspective. Springer. 67-80.
Kenrick, J., Rowley, T. and Kitelo, P. (2023). ‘We are our land’—Ogiek of Mount Elgon, Kenya: securing community tenure as the key enabling condition for sustaining community lands. Oryx, 57(3), 298-312.
Kigen, G., Maritim, A., Some, F., Kibosia, J., Rono, H., Chepkwony, S., Kipkore, W. and Wanjoh, B. (2016). Ethnopharmacological survey of the medicinal plants used in Tindiret, Nandi County, Kenya. African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines, 13(3), 156-168.
Kigen, G., Some, F., Kibosia, J., Rono, H., Kiprop, E., Wanjohi, B., Kigen, P. and Kipkore, W. (2014). Ethnomedicinal plants traditionally used by the keiyo community in Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya. Journal of Biodiversity, Bioprospecting and Development, 1(3), 11.
Kilonzo, S. M. (2022). Women, indigenous knowledge systems, and climate change in Kenya, African Perspectives on Religion and Climate Change. Routledge. 79-90.
Kiprop, J., Oriwo, V., Muga, M., Othim, R. and Obonyo, C. (2017). Assessment of indigenous technical knowledge on production and utilization of Non Wood Forest Products (NWFPs) in Cherangany and Mt. Elgon Water Towers of Kenya. Nairobi: Kenya Forestry Research Institute (published as Component 4 ….
Kohsaka, R. and Rogel, M. (2021). Traditional and local knowledge for sustainable development: Empowering the indigenous and local communities of the world, Partnerships for the Goals. Springer. 1261-1273.
Koros, H., Malombe, I., Mwendwa, K., Jeruto, P., Agevi, H. and Konje, M. (2016). Indigenous knowledge, uses and conservation of prunus africana (hook. f.) kalkman in Nandi forests. J. Nat. Sci. Res., 6(2224-3186).
Kugara, S.L., Kugedera, A.T.T., Sakadzo, N., Chivhenge, E. and Museva, T. (2022). The role of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) in climate change, Handbook of Research on Protecting and Managing Global Indigenous Knowledge Systems. IGI Global. 1-23.
Kurui, M. C., Kiptui, M., Chelang’a, J. K. and Omondi, P. (2016). Traditional controls of harvesting and conserving medicinal plants in Keiyo South.
Kwakye, J. (2023). Effect of Temperature and Rainfall Variability on Selected Crop Yields in Wenchi Municipality of Ghana. American Journal of Environment and Climate, 2(1), 24-32.
Lahsen, M. and Ribot, J. (2022). Politics of attributing extreme events and disasters to climate change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 13(1), e750.
Lipe, D. (2023). Utilizing Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Western Science in Science Education, Indigenous STEM Education: Perspectives from the Pacific Islands, the Americas and Asia, Volume 2. Springer. 9-20.
Mandillah, K. L. and Ekosse, G. I. (2018). African totems: Cultural heritage for sustainable environmental , 18(201-218).
Maseno, L. (2021). Environmental consciousness amongst indigenous youth in Kenya: The role of the Sengwer religious tradition. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 77(2).
Mining, P. C. (2015). Trends in the use and application of indigenous knowledge: Implications on natural resource management among Nandi people of, Kenya, University of Eldoret.
Mogeni, S. H. (2017). Towards an Effective Legal Framework for Sustainable Management of Mt Elgon Ecosystem. Available at SSRN 2956226.
Mokhov, I. (2022). Climate change: Causes, risks, consequences, and problems of adaptation and regulation. Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 92(1), 1-11.
Moore, H., Davies, M., Wanjohi, B., Njenga, E., Sudoi, V. and Kipkore, W. (2020). Ecological Knowledge of indigenous plants among the Marakwet Community (Embobut Basin), Elgeyo Marakwet County (Kenya). Ethnobotany Research and Applications: a journal of plants, people and applied research. 20
Muhando, J. (2005). Sacred sites and environmental conservation: a case study of Kenya. Indilinga African Journal of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, 4(1), 228-242.
Mukungu, N., Abuga, K., Okalebo, F., Ingwela, R. and Mwangi, J. (2016). Medicinal plants used for management of malaria among the Luhya community of Kakamega East sub-County, Kenya. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 194(98-107).
Munn, Z., Peters, M. D., Stern, C., Tufanaru, C., McArthur, A. and Aromataris, E. (2018). Systematic review or scoping review? Guidance for authors when choosing between a systematic or scoping review approach. BMC medical research methodology, 18(1-7).
Mutoko, M. C., Hein, L. and Shisanya, C. A. (2015). Tropical forest conservation versus conversion trade-offs: Insights from analysis of ecosystem services provided by Kakamega rainforest in Kenya. Ecosystem services, 14(1-11).
Mutta, D., Chagala-Odera, E., Wairungu, S. and Nassoro, S. (2009). Traditional knowledge systems for management of Kaya forests in Coast region of Kenya. Traditional forest-related knowledge and sustainable forest management in Africa, 23(122-130).
Ndalilo, L., Wekesa, C. and Mbuvi, M. T. (2020). Indigenous and local knowledge practices and innovations for enhancing food security under climate change: examples from Mijikenda communities in coastal Kenya. Sustainability Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa II: Insights from Eastern and Southern Africa: 63-82.
Njagi, A. (2019). Analysis of Mechanisms for the Protection of Traditional Forest Related Knowledge and Practices to Achieve Sustainable Forest Management; a Case Study of Kaya Forests of Kenya, University of Nairobi.
Nyiwul, L. (2021). Climate change adaptation and inequality in Africa: Case of water, energy and food insecurity. Journal of Cleaner Production, 278(123393).
Okello, S., Nyunja, R., Netondo, G. W. and Onyango, J. C. (2010). Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by Sabaots of Mt. Elgon Kenya. African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines. 7(1).
Omare, S. G. (2011). The role of isukha religious beliefs and practices in mitigating defforestation in Kakamega Forest. International Journal of Current Research, 3(6), 308-315.
Ondiba, H. A. and Matsui, K. (2021). Drivers of environmental conservation activities among rural women around the Kakamega forest, Kenya. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 23(10666-10678).
Otieno, N. E. and Analo, C. (2012a). Local indigenous knowledge about medicinal plants in and around Kakamega forest in western Kenya [version 1; referees: 2.
Otieno, N. E. and Analo, C. (2012b). Local indigenous knowledge about some medicinal plants in and around Kakamega forest in western Kenya. F1000Research. 1
Ouma, O. K., Stadel, C. and Okalo, B. (2016). Social science and indigenous ecological knowledge in Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya. Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research and Management, 8(29-38).
Pelletier, J., Gélinas, N. and Potvin, C. (2019). Indigenous perspective to inform rights-based conservation in a protected area of Panama. Land use policy, 83(297-307).
Peterson, J., Pearce, P. F., Ferguson, L. A. and Langford, C. A. (2017). Understanding scoping reviews: Definition, purpose, and process. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 29(1), 12-16.
Shizha, E. (2017). Indigenous knowledges and knowledge codification in the knowledge economy, Handbook of research on theoretical perspectives on indigenous knowledge systems in developing countries. IGI Global. 267-288.
Siyum, Z. G. (2020). Tropical dry forest dynamics in the context of climate change: syntheses of drivers, gaps, and management perspectives. Ecological Processes, 9(1), 25.
Su, K., Ren, J., Qin, Y., Hou, Y. and Wen, Y. (2020). Efforts of indigenous knowledge in forest and wildlife conservation: A case study on Bulang people in Mangba village in Yunnan Province, China. Forests, 11(11), 1178.
Tanui, J., Webb, P. and Muriuki, J. (2013). Indigenous Knowledge in the Management of Nandi Hills Forests, Kenya. African Journal of Sustainable Development, 3(1), 59-71.
Tanui, J. G. (2011). Towards Community Environmental Education Using Current Institutional Resources, GIS and Remote Sensing, and Local Knowledge: A Case of the Nandi Hills and Nandi Forests, Western Kenya, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
Terer, T., Muasya, A. M., Dahdouh-Guebas, F., Ndiritu, G.G. and Triest, L. (2012). Integrating local ecological knowledge and management practices of an isolated semi-arid papyrus swamp (Loboi, Kenya) into a wider conservation framework. Journal of Environmental Management, 93(1), 71-84.
Tricco, A. C., Lillie, E., Zarin, W., O’brien, K., Colquhoun, H., Kastner, M., Levac, D., Ng, C., Sharpe, J. P. and Wilson, K. (2016). A scoping review on the conduct and reporting of scoping reviews. BMC medical research methodology. 16(1-10).
Turner, N. J., Cuerrier, A. and Joseph, L. (2022). Well grounded: Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge, ethnobiology and sustainability. People and Nature, 4(3), 627-651.
Tynan, L. (2021). What is relationality? Indigenous knowledges, practices and responsibilities with kin. Cultural Geographies, 28(4), 597-610.
Walker, W.S., Gorelik, S.R., Baccini, A., Aragon-Osejo, J.L., Josse, C., Meyer, C., Macedo, M.N., Augusto, C., Rios, S. and Katan, T. (2020). The role of forest conversion, degradation, and disturbance in the carbon dynamics of Amazon indigenous territories and protected areas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(6), 3015-3025.
Wambua, M. C. (2010). An assessment of Gender Roles and Utilization of Indigenous Knowledge in the Management of the Forest Biodiversity in Kaptama Division of Mt. Elegon District, Western Kenya, University of Nairobi.
Wang, N., Fang, M., Beauchamp, M., Jia, Z. and Zhou, Z. (2021). An indigenous knowledge-based sustainable landscape for mountain villages: The Jiabang rice terraces of Guizhou, China. Habitat International. 111(102360).
Wanjohi, B. K., Njenga, E. W., Sudoi, V., Kipkore, W. K., Moore, H. L. and Davies, M. I. (2020). Ecological Knowledge of indigenous plants among the Marakwet Community (Embobut Basin), Elgeyo Marakwet County (Kenya). Ethnobotany Research and Applications, 20(1), 1-16.
Weaver, K. (2023). Bridging Indigenous and Western knowledge-systems in knowledge co-production with Amazonian Indigenous communities: a systematic realist review. Development Studies Research, 10(1), 2203842.
Whyte, K. (2017). What do indigenous knowledges do for indigenous peoples? Forthcoming in Keepers of the Green World: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Sustainability, Edited by Melissa K. Nelson and Dan Shilling.
Zerbe, S. (2022). What’s So Important About Traditional Cultural Landscapes?, Restoration of Multifunctional Cultural Landscapes: Merging Tradition and Innovation for a Sustainable Future. Springer. 77-126.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Benjamin Mutuku Kinyili
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
