African Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Change Mitigation: Towards an Afro-Sensed Perspective (original) (raw)

Abstract

Recent trends in climate change are characterised by increased GHG emissions, global warming, and varied effects on natural and human habitats. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide concentrations in the atmosphere were 150%, 262%, and 123%, respectively, above preindustrial levels in 2021 (WMO, 2022). The densely populated continent of Africa has a history of protracted and severe disasters, especially droughts. For instance, four years of below-average rainfall have led to a devastating drought in the Horn of Africa (Weforum, 2022). It has also affected more than 18 million people suffering from extreme famine in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya (US government's Humanitarian Information Unit, in Weforum, 2022). Although there are other contributory factors, significant land degradation in the area has increased the vulnerability of the prevailing environmental precarity. According to Nyong et al. (2007), global economic activity may have had a substantial role in the recent environmental changes in Africa, resulting in instability and uncertainties on multiple levels. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2014) stated that phenomena linked to this shift, such as severe storms, cyclones, floods, and plagues, have prompted the international community to focus on

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