Indigenous Knowledge is the Root of Survival

Climate Action is one of the major global concerns at present. This is perhaps the most contentious issue that brings every single leader of the world to a common forum. Sustainable Development Goal-13 is about climate action, and is one of 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. The official mission statement of this goal is to

Indigenous communities throughout the world have been the prime custodians of nature. They have been primarily protecting the forest ecosystem, and thereby leading climate action right from the front. At the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021, for the first time in the history of the UNFCCC, twenty-eight indigenous peoples were nominated from each of the seven UN indigenous socio-cultural regions. The sole objective was to engage directly as knowledge holders and share experiences as indigenous experts with governments. 

COP 26 was historic in the sense it facilitated direct and unprecedented engagement between indigenous peoples.The deliberations revolved around the concern pertaining to the importance of a joint collaboration between communities and governments that helped unlock sustainable and resilient ways to achieve the Paris Agreement commitments and reverse biodiversity decline, was first of its kind. 

Indigenous peoples protect 80% of the planet’s biodiversity as they have immense knowledge, and are values-oriented towards nature. It is pertinent to mention here that though the importance of indigenous knowledge has been realized in the design and implementation of sustainable development projects, little has been done to incorporate this into formal climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Forest plays a significant role in constructing the Indigenous Life world. The forest ecosystem has a pivotal role to play in terms of creating and sustaining the livelihood options for the indigenous communities.  Many states with substantial tribal populations not only bear significance in terms of maintaining bio-diversity but also become more significant when it comes to the debate and discourse on tribal rights, access to forest resources and most crucially reflecting upon the rights of the indigenous communities to protect their habitat. 

India has a vibrant ecosystem of indigenous knowledge system, and a rich repository of traditional knowledge. Socially embedded community institutions such as the customary institutions play a decisive role in shaping the scope and prospect of defining the adaptation strategies. However, it is matter of serious concern that the formal institutions hardly recognise the role and importance of community institutions. It is pertinent to note that there are formal institutions under the rule of law in the form of Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMC), formed at the village level or a cluster of villages situated adjacent to Reserved Forests (RF) and are registered with the Territorial Divisional Forest Office. JFMC is responsible for selecting the plant species to be planted in the forest, suggesting physical and financial targets, and principal role of JMFC has been more on conducting awareness programs throughout the country. However, such institutional mechanisms have not been that successful in contributing towards formulation of climate adaptation strategies which form a critical component under the broad discourse of climate action. 

Most significantly, the indigenous knowledge empowers the communities to offer a gamut of ideas to tackle the issue of climate change, and thereby deciding the strategies on climate action. However, the conventional roles of JFMC have been limited to conservation and restoration. JFMCs have neither been proactive to involve the communities representing customary institutions nor have they been sensible in terms of ensuring involvement of the indigenous people in identification of species resilient to climate change. The principal reason behind failure of any development programme lies in its inability to connect with the community. Since Independence, there have been enormous programme and policies but there has been a serious gap in terms of lack of a community approach. Nothing different has happened in this regard.

This is high time that the global community realised the importance of the critical role of the indigenous community in terms of their engagement in climate action. The need of the hour reiterates the fact that stakeholders in the area of climate action should focus on the need for an impetus towards ensuring the representation of the tribal community at different levels– may it be at the grassroots level community institutions or at the higher level of decision-making. 

Needless to mention that the indigenous knowledge system is scientific enough to initiate or facilitate any discourse or deliberations with respect to various facets of adaptation strategies. However, if this knowledge is intrinsically embedded with the forest ecosystem and thereby the goal of climate action is purposefully and logically applied with modern skills and technology, then millions of lives on the earth could be saved. It is a matter of grave concern that under the hegemony of modern science and technology, indigenous knowledge is on the verge of extinction due to lack of recognition from the community and government.

One of the urgent needs of the hour is that the union government, in collaboration with the state governments- especially those states with substantial indigenous population, should form multiple task forces with formulation of a central committee with experts on indigenous knowledge as its members. The prime role of the committee would be to prioritize, record and document the indigenous knowledge system and experience of the local indigenous communities vis-a-vis their perspectives on climate action and adaptation strategies.

Further, climate-resilient seeds should be well preserved. Kamala Pujari, an indigenous woman from the Koraput district of Odisha was awarded with the prestigious Padmashree award for her successful and tireless efforts towards creating a “seed bank” with a vast variety of climate resilient seeds preserved in it. There are numerous such examples in this regard. However, there is a severe lack of political and administrative will in terms of formulating an implementing a well planned and well-thought strategy with regard to the above. 

With increasing and ever-expanding emphasis on designing and exploring adaptation strategies, we must realise that it is merely impossible to think of climate action without the support of the indigenous knowledge system which is indeed the root of survival when it comes to pursuing climate action.