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Indigenous communities around the world have pioneered drought resilience and adaptation. As the extreme heat intensifies, the world needs to hear their lessons, Ademola Oluborode Jegede wrote in Part 1 of the series on drought.
Currently in Kenya, even camels are struggling to survive. The worst drought since the 1980s has killed 1.4 million livestock and dried up the lake in the northern part of the country. 3.5 million people are hungry.
Of the many people suffering from climate change, indigenous peoples, who often live in marginal environments that are disadvantageous to agriculture, will be devastated. Access to their food and water is already restricted, and changes in natural rhythms and loss of arable land further limit them.
Drought is a slow-motion car accident in a series of climate change disasters. By 2050, 216 million people are expected to migrate due to the drought. An astonishing 69.6% of Inuit indigenous peoples in Canada do not always know where their next meal comes from. A quarter of the 2,878 households surveyed by First Nations people outside Canada’s reserves experience moderate food insecurity due to drought, with more than half of First Nations people in the reserve experiencing it. I am.
The Afar community in Ethiopia has lost livestock, food and pasture due to dry climatic conditions. The people of Endroa, Kenya, have seen their land deteriorating crops, dying livestock, and causing migration and conflict among members of the community over clean water and pasture.
To mitigate the effects of drought, Endroa grows drought-resistant crops such as grains and tubers to minimize water usage and enhance food security. Livestock and crop diversification and supplemental livestock breeding are common practices in Endroa.
Knowledge has long been an important tool for indigenous communities in combating and coping with the consequences of drought.
Groups such as Tay, Yao and Hmong in Vietnam are using indigenous knowledge to support food preservation and breeding of animals and crops. Native crops (sticky rice and mikan in the hills) and animal varieties (black pigs and chicken) are more resistant to drought and less pressure from pests and diseases.
For example, indigenous peoples in the Pacific Northwest of the United States are using dams built by beavers to enhance water storage during droughts. We also plant drought-resistant plants such as zucchini to prevent drought-related fires.
Australia’s Miriwoong community uses traditional and local knowledge to burn primordial grass early in the dry season and light small fires in a mosaic pattern to prevent uncontrollable fires at the end of the dry season. Reduce wildfires. Ngemba shares stories related to drought. They record floods marked in the landscape to help predict the future more accurately. In doing so, they build a more resilient community to survive the climate-related drought.
The people of Dokpas and Lachenpas (which make up the Dzumsa community in India) have many sheep herds dying due to low rainfall and poor pasture. To mitigate the loss of livestock from poor pastures associated with drought, Dzumsa banned sheep slaughter and sale from 2007 to 2011. This move helped prevent the sheep’s inventory from being completely depleted. Dzumsa also moves to avoid the risk of drought. Adapting to changing climatic conditions, at least 80% of Lachenpas are now growing crops such as cabbage, corn and pumpkin that were previously unable to grow on their land.
However, indigenous knowledge itself is under threat. Indigenous peoples’ adaptive practices can only sustain them to some extent, as droughts accounted for 15% of natural disasters and directly killed 650,000 people between 1970 and 2019. Respecting the human rights and culture of indigenous peoples is important for improving the adaptability of indigenous peoples facing drought worldwide. In the front seats of slow-motion car accidents, indigenous peoples, more than anyone else, need to strengthen their resilience in the face of increased drought.
Ademola Oluborode Jegede ((((ORCID) Is a professor of law at the Faculty of Law, University of Venda in Thoyandou, South Africa.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info ™