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Pastoralism Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Future
Case study on Traditional Knowledge of Mbororo People
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By Hindou Oumarou IbrahimAFPAT CoordinatorIPACC Sahel Region RepresentMbororo From [email protected]
Personal message Dear all, please accept my sincere greetings
and I apologize for not being able to be present with you in this room because of refused visa. I thank UNESCO for allowing me to send you my written presentation. I wish I be there to tell you personally how my community is the victim of direct impacts of climate change and also how it uses this traditional knowledge to adapt. But I hope these few lines will remain in your memory as a picture of me.
Introduction
Africa has a long adaptation history• Most indigenous peoples in Africa are nomadic / mobile;
• Mobility was required to lighten the human impact on fragile ecosystems;
• Sedentary lives are preferred by governments but undermine ecosystems
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◦ Climate science and related information can be used to great advantage to avoid and manage climatic risks and to take advantage of the opportunities arising from changed climate conditions
◦ IPACC in partnership with the UNESCO, WMO, AFPAT, CTA and ASISO implement the the project “Influencing regional policy processes in Climate Change Adaptation through the merger of African pastoralist traditional knowledge and atmospheric science”
Introduction (cont.)
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The Case of the Mbororo People
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The Mbororo The Mbororo people are nomadic and semi-nomadic livestock
herders living between Niger, Nigeria, Cameroun, Central African Republic and Chad in the arid and semi-arid area
Because of the political problems and our way of living, it is difficult to give the exact statistics of the community.
This community developed a large array of traditional practices based on their interactions in their living environment and their empirical experiments in their attempts to improve the quality of their lives.
Geographic Situation of Mbororo people of Chad
• Drought
• Desertification
• Loss of biodiversity
• Reduction in water resources
• Impacts on livestock (reduction in numbers)
• Etc.
Transhumance
Long
• Mobility over more than 1000 Km (up to DRC)
Medium
• Mobility up to 700 km (Nord to South Chad)
Short
• Mobility up to 100 km (in one Region)
Different types of Mbororo transhumancePastures and water are the two most essential elements of pastoral production
Challenges
Climate change & increasing restrictions on mobility
Increasing distances Loss of livestock Change of lifestyle Distinctive needs
rarely addressed
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Traditional knowledge systems and climate change
Climate change impacts on local ecosystems and livelihood patterns
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Traditional knowledge as a means of
adaptation
Traditional knowledge of weather and climate
Diversification of animals (goats, cows, camels, etc.)
Division of livestock
Utilisation of pastures intensively during a short period and then leave them to recover
Bridging knowledge systems
Climate science uses modern monitoring and forecasting systems to generate and provide a wide range of information on past, present and future
Local decision making: information & other factors e.g. social networks, local loyalties, cultural values, intuition, beliefs and age-old trust in traditional predictive systems
Ordinary people experience great difficulties in making their voice heard by scientists
Communication challenges between all of the above
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The traditional knowledge of Mbororo people allows them to predict atmospheric conditions
EXEMPLES
The size and the shape of fruits produced by a certain palm tree may indicate whether or not the coming year will be good
Abundant offspring of a certain type of lizard is a predictor of a good season
Changes in the direction of the wind from East to West are an indicator of rain that will last for days
Although the sky may be clear, the occurrence of a particular insect species indicates that it is about to rain
Geospatial information technology (GIT)
•Participatory mapping & GIS
•Participatory 3 Dimensional modelling
•Cybertracker and related GPS data-base technology
•Google Earth mapping
How to make oral indigenous knowledge feature in national policy making?
Way forward
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Participatory use of tested ICTs to document Traditional Knowledge
Way forward
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Multi-stakeholder dialogue and exchange
Conclusions Recognition of traditional knowledge can help improve
the participation of indigenous communities in reducing environmental degradation. This knowledge should be reinforced by the modern scientific knowledge and Documentation of traditional knowledge is essential to ensure safeguarding the rich source of information .
Use P3DM maps to develop adaptation plans and strategies; methodology for pastoralists and large transhumance zones; and more shared learning are valuable;
