Abstract
This study was designed to explore the role of local knowledge (LK) in enhancing the resilience of Dinki watershed in the central highlands of Ethiopia. The data were collected through focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and household surveys. The qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis. Whereas descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used for quantitative data analyses. The result showed that the majority of the respondents have local knowledge and used in their daily activities. Furthermore, the LK is reported to have the adaptive capacity in managing land resource degradation, treating disease, mitigating food insecurity, and enhancing social capital, among others. Likewise, the logistic regression analysis showed that age, gender, and education status of the household head were significantly correlated (p<0.05) to knowledge level, indicating their predictive power for the acquisition of LK. Accordingly, old-aged (60+ years) male respondents who attended primary education were higher to acquire LK than their counterparts. The result realized that the adaptive roles (land resource management, medication, climate change adaptation, etc.) of local knowledge systems could contribute to enhancing resilience. More importantly, the presence of social mechanisms is insurance to maintain LK. Thus, both intergenerational and intragenerational information gaps are filled with education and promotion on the roles of local knowledge systems. Besides, local-decision options should participate in custodians to share their experiences, that could contribute to sustaining ecosystem resilience.
Highlights
The local knowledge systems have been often segregated from decision-making, which might be attributed to the failure history of most natural resource management programs [4]
The study area, Dinki watershed is found in the Ankober district, central highlands of Ethiopia
The use of local knowledge systems is decreasing in recent periods
Summary
The local people have survived in harmony with their environment for millennia and acquired a cumulative body of knowledge that enabled them to adapt to and mitigate environmental. The adaptive roles of local knowledge systems disturbances [1]. In developing countries where the communities lack advanced technology to manage environmental disturbances [2], local knowledge systems are the major options to adapt to and mitigate with environmental disturbances [3]. The local knowledge systems have been often segregated from decision-making, which might be attributed to the failure history of most natural resource management programs [4]. The term local knowledge (LK) is defined in by various scholars. The concept by Berkes, Colding, and Folke [5] is usually cited as a common working definition, whichh is stated as “cumulative body of knowledge, practice, and belief, evolving by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission, about the relationship of living beings (including humans) with one another and with their environment”
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