Olorundami, Tokunbo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0213-4574 (2025) Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Community-Led Innovations: Climate Resilience Practices in Sub-Saharan Africa. In: International Climate Resilience Conference (iCARE),, 26th to 29th October 2025, Munich Germany.

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Abstract

Climate change continues to intensify socio-ecological vulnerabilities across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where rural livelihoods remain deeply dependent on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, and pastoralism. While formal adaptation frameworks often privilege technocratic and externally driven solutions, growing evidence suggests that Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and community-led innovations provide contextually grounded, culturally embedded, and cost-effective pathways for building resilience. This paper presents evidence of IKS in use in the region and interrogates the role of IKS as both an epistemological framework and a practical adaptation strategy in climate-vulnerable communities across SSA.

Drawing on qualitative case studies from West, East, and Southern Africa, the study employs a mixed methodological approach combining participatory rural appraisal, key informant interviews, and document analysis. The findings highlight how communities mobilize indigenous forecasting systems, agroecological farming practices, seed preservation networks, water-harvesting techniques, sacred forest conservation, and rotational grazing systems to manage climatic uncertainty. These practices are not merely traditional remnants but dynamic systems that evolve through experimentation, social learning, and inter-generational knowledge transfer. The paper further argues that seeking out community-led innovations for climate resilience, requires a blend of Indigenous Knowledge Systems and more scientific methods for a collaborative engagement to be successful in SSA rural communities. The study aligns with existing evidence that government systems have less impact on the imposed. Climate governance with externally imposed resilience models with locally anchored IKS based adaptation strategies are more effective in design. Integrating IKS into formal climate policy frameworks, strengthening community institutions, and creating enabling environments for knowledge co-production are critical to advancing equitable and just climate resilience pathways in the region.

Keywords: Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Climate Resilience, Community Innovation, Sub-Saharan Africa, Adaptation Governance, Agroecology, Knowledge Co-production

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Status:	Published
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform J Political Science > JC Political theory
School/Department:	School of Humanities
Institutes:	Institute for Social Justice
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/13958

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