“Trees Are Our Relatives”: Local Perceptions on Forestry Resources and Implications for Climate Change Mitigation

Nelson Chanza,Walter Musakwa

doi:10.3390/su13115885

Nelson Chanza, Walter Musakwa

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13115885

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: May 24, 2021
Citations: 8	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Johannesburg

Abstract

The link between nature and society is vital for climate change mitigation and sustainable natural recourse management. Based on a case study of the indigenous people of Mbire in Zimbabwe, we argue that perceptions of indigenous people about forestry resources provide useful pointers toward framing climate mitigation interventions. This interest was necessitated by the growing call to address the suppression of forest-rich indigenous communities in climate change science. Accordingly, the aim of the study was to understand how indigenous people can contribute to the abatement of climate change. The study engaged 32 purposively selected elderly participants in focus group discussions; these participants had long histories of staying in the villages studied and were figures whom the locals regarded as “experts” in giving credible inferences about their environment. The participants corroboratively perceived forests and trees as their own “relatives”, who should not be harmed because of the support they continue to generously give to the people. Their construct of climate change relates to the gradual but continuing trivialization of cultural beliefs and abandonment of traditional practices, which they believe offend the spirits who have powers to influence the climate system. Although their attribution view on climate change is in contrast with that of mainstream climate scientists, we argue that their profound acknowledgement of climatic change, coupled with their scientific understanding of the intrinsic relationship between people’s wellbeing and the environment, are key entry points to design sustainable climate mitigation programs at community scales. The sustainability of such programs should not ignore local belief systems and strategies that communities use in preserving their forests.

Highlights

Published: 24 May 2021The surge in interest in examining indigenous knowledge (IK) in climate science can be attributed to the convergence of the multiple evidence base approach [1,2,3] with the threat of climate change itself [4,5]
The participatory engagement with local villagers selected on the basis of their profound knowledge about their local environment gave useful pointers about the motivation behind forestry resources management in indigenous settings
With reference to climate regulation, it appears that the spatial confinement of IK utility, as it is currently understood, has marginalized the critical role that indigenous people can play in forest management

Summary

Introduction

Published: 24 May 2021The surge in interest in examining indigenous knowledge (IK) in climate science can be attributed to the convergence of the multiple evidence base approach [1,2,3] with the threat of climate change itself [4,5]. The agenda to incorporate the previously ignored contributions of indigenous people in climate science is understood to be decolonial [9] and continues to gather momentum Notwithstanding this burgeoning interest, there are still operational deficiencies in terms of how the knowledge held by indigenous people and local communities can inform climate change mitigation. Existing studies on indigenous people and climate change have tended to adopt an adaptation bias, with limited examination of how local communities use their extensive historical knowledge about their environment to participate in mitigation interventions. This could be because mitigation has largely been understood as a global concept without clearly defined benefits to indigenous populations

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