Indigenous Knowledge and Farmer Perceptions of Climate and Ecological Changes in the Bamenda Highlands of Cameroon: Insights from the Bui Plateau
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assessed the effectiveness of smallholder farmers' knowledge and aptitude to read weather signs for informed decisions on their daily and seasonal activities, based on eight focus group discussions and a survey of 597 farming households in seven agro-ecological basins on the Bamenda Highlands of Cameroon.
Abstract: Anticipating seasonal and shorter time scale dynamics to farming practices is primordial for indigenous farmers’ resilience under extreme environmental conditions, where climate change is a menace to agro-hydro-ecological systems. This paper assesses the effectiveness of indigenous farmers’ knowledge and aptitude to read weather signs for informed decisions on their daily and seasonal activities. Such climate-proof development is anchored on indigenous people’s knowledge and perceptions in circumstances where the dearth of scientific evidence or information exists as in Cameroon. The study is based on eight focus group discussions and a survey of 597 farming households in seven agro-ecological basins on the Bui Plateau of the Bamenda Highlands. The results indicate that indigenous smallholder farmers value their ability to accurately observe and anticipate local conditions in various ways to serve their local realities more aptly than outside forecasts. Such local knowledge should thus exercise a complementary role weave in a local climate information understanding system that replicates ecological variability.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a study was conducted to analyze smallholder maize farmers' perception of climate change/variability and identify their adaptation approaches and barriers for adaptation in the eastern highlands of Ethiopia.
Abstract: Climate change and variability is affecting maize (Zea mays L.) production in eastern Ethiopia but how farmers perceive the challenge and respond to it is not well documented. A study was conducted to analyze smallholder maize farmers’ perception of climate change/variability and identify their adaptation approaches and barriers for adaptation in the eastern highlands of Ethiopia. Meteorological data were assessed to provide evidence of the perceived change. A survey was conducted in six major maize-producing kebeles with a total of 364 respondents. A multi-stage sampling method was employed for selecting the sample units for the study. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a multinomial logit model. The results indicated that 78% of the sampled smallholder maize farmers perceived increasing temperatures while 83% perceived decreasing amounts of rainfall. About 75% of the farmers indicated that they became aware of climate change and variability from their own experience and perceived deforestation as the main cause. The farmers perceived that drought, diseases and pests, dwindling soil fertility, and declining crop yields were the major impacts of climate change that affected maize production. The farmers’ major adaptation practices include adjusting planting dates, using improved maize varieties, intercropping, recommended mineral fertilizers, supplementary irrigation, and soil and water conservation measures. Econometric analysis revealed that low educational level, shortage of land, large family sizes, age, lack of access to irrigation water, lack of access to credit, and lack of access to extension services were the most important barriers to climate change adaptation in the area. It is concluded that farmers cultivating maize in the study area have perceived climate change and use certain adaptation strategies to counter its negative impacts on maize production. This implies that policies should be geared towards strengthening farmers’ efforts to adapt to climate change and alleviate the existing barriers in promoting adaptation strategies for enhancing the productivity of maize.
21 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a qualitative systematic review of academic and policy evidence, to address the question of what interventions are emerging at neighborhood to city scale to enhance resilience to climate change in Africa, is presented.
Abstract: African cities are largely less-built with agile informal settlements and multiple ecologies that harbor different pathways for resilience to climate change. We undertook a qualitative systematic review of academic and policy evidence, to address the question of what interventions are emerging at neigbourhood to city scale to enhance resilience to climate change in Africa. Resilience at neigbourhood scale often stems from harnessing the local resource base and technologies for urban agriculture and forestry; alternative energy from wastes; grassed drainages for protection against erosion; recreation along dry riverbeds; fog-water harvesting; and adjustments in irrigation schedules. At city scale, planning is targeted at buildings, mobility and energy service delivery as the objects to be made resilient. The review established that evidence on comparisons across regions is mainly on East, West and South African cities, and much less on cities in Northern and Central Africa. Ecological comparisons are majorly on coastal and in-land cities, with minimal representation of semi-arid and mountainous cities. Resilience efforts in capital cities are the most dominant in the literature, with less emphasis on secondary cities and towns, which is necessary for a deeper understanding of the role played by inter-municipal and inter-metropolitan collaborations. African cities can bring context-sensitivity to global debates on climate resilience, if theoretical perspectives are generated from emerging interventions across case studies. We conclude with suggestions on what future research needs to take on, if evidence on resilience to climate change in African cities is to be strengthened.
16 citations
Cites background from "Indigenous Knowledge and Farmer Per..."
...Degradation of the land has exacerbated problems with floods (Tume et al 2019)....
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13 citations
01 Nov 2020
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assessed the vulnerability of smallholder farmers to adverse climatic changes in the Western Highlands of Cameroon using secondary data (temperature and rainfall data) and primary data (obtained through a household survey of 350 smallholders).
Abstract: Agriculture is highly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climatic variations and changes (CVC). Smallholder farmers in particular bear the brunt of adverse climate variations and changes. It was within this background that this paper assessed climatic variations and changes, and the drivers of smallholder farmers’ vulnerability to adverse climatic changes in the Western Highlands of Cameroon. Secondary data (temperature and rainfall data) and primary data (obtained through a household survey of 350 smallholder farmers) were used for the study. Data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistical tools. It was found that, smallholder farmers perceived relatively high temperatures, intense sunshine, and erratic and scanty rainfall. Rising temperature, intense sunshine and scanty rainfall recurred annually. Recurrent extreme weather events and poverty were perceived as the major causes of vulnerability to climatic variations and changes. Most smallholder farmers (57.43%) rated their degree of vulnerability to CVC as “highly vulnerable”. A strong non-cause-effect relationship existed between vulnerability to CVC and hypothesized socio-economic, institutional and environmental explanatory variables (p
11 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assessed the resilience of smallholder farmers in Isiolo County, Kenya and Northwestern Cameroon in the face of environmental changes, based on household surveys of 339 farmers in Kenya and 350 farmers in Cameroon.
Abstract: Climate change is a major challenge for the agricultural sector worldwide. Smallholder farmers are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change owing to their high dependence on agriculture for livelihood sustenance. Building smallholder farmers’ livelihood resilience to the adverse effects of environmental change is critical to addressing their vulnerabilities. This paper comparatively assessed livelihood resilience of smallholder farmers in Isiolo County, Kenya and Northwestern Cameroon in the face of environmental changes. The results are based on household surveys of 339 farmers in Kenya and 350 farmers in Cameroon. Findings showed that using the same measures of livelihood resilience, farmers’ resilience were significantly different in the Kenyan and Cameroonian study areas (p < 0.05), with farmers in Cameroon being relatively more resilient than farmers in Kenya. In both study sites, a statistically significant causal relationship (p < 0.05) existed between farmers’ resilience and livelihood capital assets such as human capital (number of household members between 18 to 55 years, education level), natural capital (number of farms, size of farmland, number of agroforestry trees on the farm), financial capital (access to bank account, ownership of livestock, ownership of farmland, trees, and farm equipment), social capital (participation in agricultural group), and physical capital (use of irrigation). However, some livelihood capital assets were more important for building resilience in Isiolo County, Kenya while others were more important in Northwestern Cameroon. On the basis of these findings, it is recommended that climate change adaptation interventions and policies should take a critical look at the determinants of resilience in order to come up with effective plans of action that can enhance farmers’ resilience to environmental changes occurring in Kenya and Cameroon, and elsewhere.
10 citations
References
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01 Jul 2001
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors set the stage for impact, adaptation, and vulnerability assessment of climate change in the context of sustainable development and equity, and developed and applied scenarios in Climate Change Impact, Adaptation, and Vulnerability Assessment.
Abstract: Summary for policymakers Technical summary Part I. Setting the Stage for Impact, Adaptation, and Vulnerability Assessment: 1. Overview 2. Methods and tools 3. Development and application of scenarios in Climate Change Impact, Adaptation, and Vulnerability Assessment Part II. Sectors and Systems: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability: 4. Hydrology and water resources 5. Natural and managed ecosystems 6. Coastal zones and marine ecosystems 7. Energy, industry, and settlements 8. Financial services 9. Human health Part III. Regional Analyses: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability: 10. Africa 11. Asia 12. Australasia 13. Europe 14. Latin America 15. North America 16. Polar regions (Arctic and Antarctic) 17. Small island states Part IV. Global Issues and Synthesis: 18. Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable development and equity 19. Synthesis and integration of impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability Index.
12,541 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors highlight some indigenous mitigation and adaptation strategies that have been practiced in the Sahel, and the benefits of integrating indigenous knowledge into formal climate change mitigation and adaption strategies.
Abstract: Past global efforts at dealing with the problem of global warming concentrated on mitigation, with the aim of reducing and possibly stabilizing greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere. With the slow progress in achieving this, adaptation was viewed as a viable option to reduce the vulnerability to the anticipated negative impacts of global warming. It is increasingly realized that mitigation and adaptation should not be pursued independent of each other but as complements. This has resulted in the recent calls for the integration of adaptation into mitigation strategies. However, integrating mitigation and adaptation into climate change concerns is not a completely new idea in the African Sahel. The region is characterized by severe and frequent droughts with records dating back into centuries. The local populations in this region, through their indigenous knowledge systems, have developed and implemented extensive mitigation and adaptation strategies that have enabled them reduce their vulnerability to past climate variability and change, which exceed those predicted by models of future climate change. However, this knowledge is rarely taken into consideration in the design and implementation of modern mitigation and adaptation strategies. This paper highlights some indigenous mitigation and adaptation strategies that have been practiced in the Sahel, and the benefits of integrating indigenous knowledge into formal climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Incorporating indigenous knowledge can add value to the development of sustainable climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies that are rich in local content, and planned in conjunction with local people.
670 citations
"Indigenous Knowledge and Farmer Per..." refers background in this paper
...This is aggravated by limited integration techniques which are exacerbated by the lack of proper background in local knowledge, lack of realization that indigenous traditional knowledge has values attached to local content touching the life of the local people and could contribute to the development of sustainable climate change, mitigation, and adaptation strategies and lack of proper understanding on how local knowledge could be used in dealing with environmental issues hence solutions to developmental problems [37,38]....
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TL;DR: The use of indigenous knowledge has been seen by many as an alternative way of promoting development in poor rural communities in many parts of the world as mentioned in this paper. But, as pointed out by as mentioned in this paper, a number of problems and tensions has resulted in indigenous knowledge not being as useful as hoped for or supposed, such as a focus on the (arte)factual, binary tensions between western science and indigenous knowledge systems, the problem of differentiation and power relations, the romanticization of the indigenous knowledge, and the all too frequent decontextualization of knowledge.
Abstract: The use of indigenous knowledge has been seen by many as an alternative way of promoting development in poor rural communities in many parts of the world. By reviewing much of the recent work on indigenous knowledge, the paper suggests that a number of problems and tensions has resulted in indigenous knowledge not being as useful as hoped for or supposed. These include problems emanating from a focus on the (arte)factual; binary tensions between western science and indigenous knowledge systems; the problem of differentiation and power relations; the romanticization of indigenous knowledge; and the all too frequent decontextualization of indigenous knowledge.
433 citations
"Indigenous Knowledge and Farmer Per..." refers background in this paper
...[18] argued that local knowledge lacks support from development practitioners and even households themselves may have little confidence in their own knowledge that might provide a solution to their environmental problems, even though it has done so for over generations....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the changing role of science and the theoretical, methodological and analytical challenges in considering futures of the Anthropocene, and present three broad groups of research questions on societal goals for the future; major trends and dynamics that might favor or hinder them; and factors that might propel or impede transformations towards desirable future.
Abstract: While the concept of the Anthropocene reflects the past and present nature, scale and magnitude of human impacts on the Earth System, its true significance lies in how it can be used to guide attitudes, choices, policies and actions that influence the future. Yet, to date much of the research on the Anthropocene has focused on interpreting past and present changes, while saying little about the future. Likewise, many futures studies have been insufficiently rooted in an understanding of past changes, in particular the long-term co-evolution of bio-physical and human systems. The Anthropocene perspective is one that encapsulates a world of intertwined drivers, complex dynamic structures, emergent phenomena and unintended consequences, manifest across different scales and within interlinked biophysical constraints and social conditions. In this paper we discuss the changing role of science and the theoretical, methodological and analytical challenges in considering futures of the Anthropocene. We present three broad groups of research questions on: (1) societal goals for the future; (2) major trends and dynamics that might favor or hinder them; (3) and factors that might propel or impede transformations towards desirable futures. Tackling these questions requires the development of novel approaches integrating natural and social sciences as well as the humanities beyond what is current today. We present three examples, one from each group of questions, illustrating how science might contribute to the identification of desirable and plausible futures and pave the way for transformations towards them. We argue that it is time for debates on the sustainability of the Anthropocene to focus on opportunities for realizing desirable and plausible futures.
344 citations
"Indigenous Knowledge and Farmer Per..." refers background in this paper
...These dramatic changes are within the framework of ‘anthropisation’ given that man has become a robust geophysical agent during the Anthropocene Era [43,44]....
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27 Sep 2012
TL;DR: In this article, the authors look into the damaging effects of climate change on Indigenous cultures and marginalized populations, including small islands, high-altitude zones, desert margins and the circumpolar Arctic.
Abstract: This UNESCO report looks into the damaging effects of climate change on Indigenous cultures. When considering climate change, indigenous peoples and marginalized populations warrant particular attention. Impacts on their territories and communities are anticipated to be both early and severe due to their location in vulnerable environments, including small islands, high-altitude zones, desert margins and the circumpolar Arctic. Indeed, climate change poses a direct threat to many indigenous societies due to their continuing reliance upon resource-based livelihoods. Heightened exposure to negative impacts, however, is not the only reason for specific attention and concern. As many indigenous societies are socially and culturally distinct from mainstream society, decisions, policies and actions undertaken by the majority, even if well-intended, may prove inadequate, ill-adapted, and even inappropriate. There is therefore a need to understand the specific vulnerabilities, concerns, adaptation capacities and longer-term aspirations of indigenous peoples and marginalized communities throughout the world. Indigenous and traditional knowledge contribute to this broader understanding.
330 citations