The socio-epistemic process of indigenous disaster risk reduction: Evidence of adapting yet endangered indigenous strategies

Abstract

The added value of indigenous practices for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is increasingly stressed by scholars. Yet this fails to translate into practical application as these scholars miss a clear understanding of the processes that shape indigenous DRR. Based on a case of floods in the Rwenzori (Uganda), in this study, the aimed is to conceptualize the socio-epistemic processes through which Indigenous people question their practices and develop adapted DRR strategies. By trying out various practices over several floods, Indigenous people developed a toolbox of criteria to address the changing disaster risk. The capacity to learn from each event is illustrated by crafting practices that enhance ecological integrity, livelihoods, and sociocultural well-being across the watershed. This skill is largely attributed to the community structures organized around the cultural stewardship which favor a holistic approach to produce best practices. Yet, through history, adapted indigenous DRR strategies remain hampered by external pressures that are sociopolitical and capitalistic in nature. It is thus argued that cultural stewardship is crucial in enabling development of adapted indigenous DRR insofar as external sociopolitical and/or capitalistic situations permit.