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

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.

Revitalizing indigenous ways of maintaining food security in a changing climate: review of the evidence base from Africa

“…Wynberg et al (2003) also expressed that indigenous fruit trees constitute an essential part of the livelihoods, culture and spirituality of rural communities. Indigenous spirituality can promote sustainable management of trees and ecosystems under climate change (Nalau et al , 2018; Chanza and Musakwa, 2021). This suggests that there are high prospects of embracing climate smart agricultural programs such as agroforestry when working with indigenous communities.…”

Overlaps of indigenous knowledge and climate change mitigation: evidence from a systematic review

“…Indigenous forest conservation is widely reported as an approach to demonstrate the important role played by ILP in climate change mitigation. This is largely in the form of conservation of scared forestry sites and tree species (Salick et al, 2014;Chanza and Musakwa, 2021a;Maru et al, 2023). These can be patches of forests protected by local communities for spiritual and cultural uses and are usually protected from human interference, making them distinctively unique from other legally conserved areas.…”

“…In Ethiopia, Maru et al (2023) observed that ILK which is attached to sacred forest conservation has encouraged local people to preserve the remnants of natural vegetation thereby contributing to GHG reduction. Chanza and Musakwa (2021a) discovered that indigenous people in some areas of rural Zimbabwe view forests and trees as their own relatives. This belief system is largely common with the elderly citizens who see the loss of trees as an existential threat to their own survival.…”

“…Third, indigenous communities inhabit areas that are prone to the effects of climate change, such as small islands, mountain regions, coastal regions and drylands and are among the poorest and most marginalized people globally (Ramos-Castillo et al, 2017;Jones, 2019). Fourth, they have predominantly natural resource dependent livelihoods that are sensitive to climatic disruptions (Chanza and Musakwa, 2021a). Fifth, and vitally important, many communities of indigenous people are long-time observers of changes in their local environments, many hold religious beliefs about such changes and their knowledge is useful in environmental monitoring (Brattland et al, 2019).…”

Ecological and Hydrological Indicators of Climate Change Observed by Dryland Communities of Malipati in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe

“…Existing studies show that local observations of climate change impacts can improve our understanding of the localized responses of physical and biological systems to climate change [5,15]. This knowledge can also give useful pointers on how to design appropriate climate adaptation and mitigation strategies that are suitable to local socio-ecological systems [16][17][18]. Documenting the local observations of climate change and comparing them with existing knowledge in the traditional climate science domain can strengthen and enrich climate impact assessment studies [15].…”