Adaptation to climate change using indigenous weather forecasting systems in Borana pastoralists of southern Ethiopia

Abstract

ABSTRACTIndigenous weather forecasting systems of Borana pastoralists are among the core elements of a Gada system that existed half a million years back and still serving as a powerful natural intelligence on adaptation to climatic hazards. The study was aimed to investigate the types of indigenous weather forecasting systems, mechanisms of climate information exchange, and how traditional forecasts have been integrated with contemporary forecasts to strengthen adaptation to climatic hazards in Borana pastoralists of southern Ethiopia. Conventional survey methods including participatory rural appraisal tools and factorial scoring technique were used for data collection and interpretation. This study indicated that four major indigenous weather forecasting systems were used by Borana pastoralists for centuries. These include Ayantu, Uchu, Waragu, and Arga-Dhageti. They varied in the kind of indicator used to predict weather events. Forecasting was mainly based on observation and unique analysis of celestial bodies, atmospheric variables, and biological features. Respondents indicated that Uchu and Ayantu systems were the most trusted and reliable sources of local climate information. Indigenous and contemporary forecasts are just different and could complement each other. Our results indicated that integrating indigenous and contemporary forecasting systems can foster the prediction efficiency and applicability of climate information. Borana pastoralists had established coping mechanisms that were performed in three phases: pre, during and post occurrence of predicted weather events; mainly aimed at improving their resilience to climatic shocks. Therefore, sustaining such sacred indigenous knowledge bank is vital, as it directly supports community-based disaster risk reduction programmes.