Kvuno Soil Lab manager - Maputo Lab (Lab 7) – Mozambique, Kvuno (Solidaridad Southern Africa’s affiliated enterprise), Project officer at for PfC Fruits & Vegetable Project, Solidaridad Southern Africa, National Coordinator for Kvuno Soil Lab – Mozambique, Kvuno Services Limited (Solidaridad Southern Africa’s affiliated enterprise), Project Coordinator – Reclaim Sustainability! Africa Food Programme, Solidaridad Southern Africa, Climate Innovation Lead and Business developer (Mozambique), Solidaridad Southern Africa
Climate Innovation Lead and Business developer (Mozambique), Solidaridad Southern Africa
A COMMUNITY DRIVEN CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENCE APPROACH THROUGH PROMOTING INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE IN SOUTHERN AFRICAN COUNTRIES
Introduction
Despite increasing recognition of the importance of indigenous knowledge in achieving climate change resilience in agriculture, when designing and implementing interventions indigenous knowledge approaches are sometimes underemphasized and yet their integration presents fertile ground for community-based and driven climate adaptation and mitigation. Solidaridad’s focus on embedding and preserving culture, and promoting indigenous low-carbon practices is facilitating uptake of sustainable interventions that ensure the inclusion of the most marginalized groups, including women and youth across Southern African countries. Solidaridad Southern Africa has since cultivated a strong environment where the views of various key stakeholders including non-governmental organisations, local governments, civil society organizations, and the private sector compliment rather than substitute community beliefs and practices This paper presents the lessons harvested with the aim to catalyse the integration of indigenous knowledge into development initiatives to accelerate Africa’s progress on achieving smallholder farmers’ resilience to climate change.
Keywords: Climate Change, Resilience, Adaptation, Agriculture