Climate Risk Management with Indigenous Knowledge and Perception—Evidence from Drought Prone Regions of India

Abstract

There are many indigenous and traditional knowledge systems that have been in practice for centuries among local communities of arid regions of India. Local communities use their traditional knowledge to predict drought and take agricultural decisions. Through evidence-based fieldwork and focus group discussions with the local communities in the villages on western Rajasthan and arid districts of Gujarat, this study tries to document all the indigenous practices and traditional knowledges that claim to predict drought and mitigate drought. The study shows that local communities can predict drought at a large extent that can be validated through meteorological and other scientific data. We argue there is no “one-size-fits-all-solution” because solutions take many shapes and forms, depending on the unique context of a community, specific challenges, and its location. While climate mitigation policies to reduce climate change are taken at the global scale and can be top-down, the climate adaptation policies need to be local and bottom up. Risk reduction and adaptation strategies need to be user-friendly in its application where local knowledge and scenarios are meaningful at the community level to help communities to manage their vulnerabilities while equipping themselves with the necessary measures to curb their future risks. If local people are made aware of and comprehend their exposure to risk and potential impacts, they can take the initiative to make decisions based on existing trade-offs. Thus, strengthening interactions among local communities, scientists and policymakers should be a key commitment to fosters effective and timely policy decision.