Traditional ecological knowledge and flood risk management: A preliminary case study of the Rwenzori

Abstract

The shift from flood protection to flood risk management, together with recent arguments on incorporating culture in managing risk, underscores the application of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in managing disasters from flood hazards. Yet, documentation and incorporation of TEK into practice remains a challenge. This article contributes to addressing this challenge by exploring the existence of TEK to flooding in the Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda. Using semi-structured interviews, data were collected from residents of the Nyamwamba watershed where intense flash floods caused deadly impacts in May 2013. Collected data were analysed using content, thematic and interpretive analysis techniques. Results indicate that TEK is exhibited through various traditional ecological approaches (TEAs). Although endangered, TEAs (conducted through collective action for a communally accepted end) are framed in three main activities: (1) assessment and prediction of rainfall and flood by the traditional hydro-meteorologist (diviner) and the traditional rain forecaster (rainmaker); (2) the mountain cleansing ritual (which act as flood risk awareness platform); and (3) immunising riverine communities through planting certain indigenous plants, which improve hydrological systems through their high conservation value for native ecological diversity. As most TEAs are conducted through collective action, they represent a platform to understand local capacities and enhance adoption of measures, and/or a source of knowledge for new measures to address flood risk. Therefore, full-scale investigations of these TEAs, determining how relevant TEAs are fine-tuned, and (scientific) measures enculturated based on fine-tuned TEAs could result in effective flood risk management in various flood hotspots where TEAs influence action.

Testing Interscience in Understanding and Tackling Disaster Risk

“…The Rwenzori is also a region with an established cultural approach and indigenous practices to disaster, which generates resistance to DRR measures imposed by top-down policymakers without consideration for the local context. Moreover, the cultural and indigenous practices, as well as perspectives, are not incorporated in the disaster policy and interventions (Bwambale et al, 2018, Bwambale et al, 2021.…”

“…Another assumption is that if nature is continually observed as a source of livelihood and cultural nourishment, it would incessantly foster the desire for conservation (Bwambale et al, 2018). This assumption has yet met a series of criticism dating from historical debates about human capitalist motives and natural source exploitation (Maathai, 2010).…”

“…Firstly, it does provide socio-epistemic insights on the context-specificity of disaster risk (Gaillard and Mercer, 2013;UNISDR, 2015;Bwambale et al, 2021). Secondly, it ensures acceptable and suitable DRR options or interventions by giving weight to community priorities (Mathew et al, 2012;Bwambale et al, 2018). These attributes continue to underscore the indispensable role of indigenous perspectives and practices in DRR.…”

Traditional water knowledge: challenges and opportunities to build resilience to urban floods

“…The concept of working with nature is reflected in the shifting focus towards practicing "ecological wisdom" (Young, 2016, p: 95), which assesses the wisdom of pre-modern society and landscapes, combining contemporary techniques and practices through scientific explanation and allowing the voice of ecological and social systems into urban planning and landscapes (Spirn, 2014;Steiner, 2014;Yang and Young, 2019;Young, 2016). Also known as traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), ecological wisdom is an information source that embodies different perspectives and knowledge on locally developed practices of resource use, focussed on the ecological relationship of different natural elements as understood through interaction between human communities and their local eco-systems (Bwambale et al, 2018;Iloka, 2016;Berkes, 2012;. The socio-cultural systems behind these practices have transformed over generations, further increasing the adaptive capacities of subsequent generations (Berkes et al, 2000;Leonard et al, 2013;Maclean and Inc, 2015).…”

Temporal variations in rainfall patterns in Kilembe, Uganda

“…Previous studies in Kasese District have focused on household dynamics of typhoid fever in Kasese District in relation to floods, traditional ecological knowledge and flood risk management, reconstruction of flash floods, and characterizing flood hazard risk (Bwambale et al, 2018;Jacobs et al, 2017;Kabenge et al, 2017;Mirembe et al, 2019); however, no study has been conducted on the trend of rainfall in the area. The paper therefore focused on analyzing the temporal variation of rainfall in Kilembe.…”