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Cited by 23Indigenous Studies and EcologyClimate Change and Sustainable DevelopmentSustainability and Climate Change Governance

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Integration of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) into climate change mitigation and adaptation endeavours: milestones and gaps in South Africa and Zimbabwe’s climate policy frameworks

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Nyahunda, Louis·2024·Climatic Change
DOI 10.1007/s10584-024-03822-2
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Abstract

This article was poised to unravel the merits of integrating IKS and the demerits of its exclusion in climate change programmes and policies. The harrowing impacts of climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa make adaptation and mitigation unescapable discourses. As such, climate change policies demonstrate governments’ commitment to fostering adaptation and mitigating climate change impacts evident in every sector of society. The effectiveness of climate policies is measured by their responsiveness to the different needs, aspirations and circumstances of populations plagued by climate change. In the absence of technoscience-based adaptation and mitigation mechanisms, African communities still rely on the repository of indigenous knowledge systems as a source of information, decision-making, and prediction tools for predicting weather changes. For this reason, in formulating climate change mitigation and adaptation endeavours at policy level, it is critical to identify specific strategies where IKS has been used as a warrant towards its usage. This study was qualitative and operated within the traditional descriptive, analytical and interpretive approaches. It relied on a desktop review of journal articles on climate change and IKS, and climate change policies of South Africa and Zimbabwe. These were purposively sampled based on their relevance to the aim of the study. The Discourse Content Analysis was utilised to analyse data from which the findings were derived. The article established that despite the wide recognition of the role played by IKS in climate change adaptation, mitigation and disaster risk reduction, IKS has not featured predominantly South Africa’s climate change policies as compared to Zimbabwe’s climate policies. Notably, disregarding IKS in climate change policies makes them bereft of effectiveness in vulnerability reduction, fostering adaptation and resilience building for African communities that rely on IKS, among other capitals essential in fostering mitigation and adaptation in the face of climate change.

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Metadata

Authors
Nyahunda, L.
Affiliations
University of the Free State (ZA)
Corresponding author
Nyahunda, Louis
ORCID
Nyahunda, Louis
Venue
Climatic Change
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2024-11
Volume
177
Issue
11
ISSN
  • 0165-0009 (ISSN-L)
  • 1573-1480
DOI
10.1007/s10584-024-03822-2
OpenAlex
W4404073113
Cited by
23
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 8
FWCI
13.24
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Climatic Change (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Funders
University of the Free State
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Indigenous Studies and Ecology
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate Change and Sustainable Development
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Sustainability and Climate Change Governance
Keywords
indigenous knowledge, climate change adaptation, climate change mitigation, climate policy, South Africa, Zimbabwe, disaster risk reduction, vulnerability reduction, resilience training, sub-Saharan Africa

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Integration of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) into climate change mitigation and adaptation endeavours: milestones and gaps in South Africa and Zimbabwe’s climate policy frameworks. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1007/s10584-024-03822-2
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Nyahunda, L. (2024). Integration of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) into climate change mitigation and adaptation endeavours: milestones and gaps in South Africa and Zimbabwe’s climate policy frameworks. Climatic Change. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-024-03822-2