Disaster Risk Reduction
Indigenous Peoples and local communities are constantly adapting to local, regional, and planetary conditions. Accumulated and sophisticated knowledge of the environment is put into daily and seasonal practices as Indigenous Peoples respond to risks and disasters, such as cyclones, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, droughts, slow onset and acute climate impacts. UNESCO assists countries to mobilize Indigenous and local knowledge systems, together with science and policy development, to enhance resilience at different scales, as Indigenous Peoples have the capacities to contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as disaster preparedness and management.
Through its Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Programme (LINKS), UNESCO brings together Indigenous Peoples, local communities, scientists, policy-makers and international agencies to dialogue and elaborate national and regional perspectives on how Indigenous and local knowledge constitute a crucial element in social and ecological resilience processes, how they can be mobilized for climate change adaptation, national ecosystems assessments, Disaster Risk Reduction, assessments and associated policy development.
Projects
The LINKS programme assists countries to mobilize Indigenous and local knowledge systems, together with science and policy, to enhance community resilience and DRR. You will find examples of such initiatives below.
Indigenous Peoples’ Traditional Knowledge on Savanna Fires
Case studies from the Guiana Shield (Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela)
Case studies from Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela on fire use by Indigenous Peoples in the Guiana Shield point to the preventive effect of traditional fire used by Indigenous Peoples. The case studies also show threats to these traditional practices, including insufficient land and resource rights. A report of the case studies will be released at the end of 2023.
Recognizing African Indigenous knowledge in disaster management
A lack of application of Indigenous and local knowledge, particularly at local level, undermines participation of local/rural communities in implementation of Disaster Risk reduction policies, and by extension, the implementation of the Africa Plan of Action and the Sendai Framework.
This UNESCO initiative aims to identify and recognize the uniqueness of Indigenous knowledge and its potential in enriching the understanding of the environment and disaster management.
Harnessing Indigenous knowledge for climate risk management
In Southern Africa, the UNESCO project on Enhancing Climate Services for Improved Water Management (CliMWaR) mobilizes Indigenous and local knowledge with scientific knowledge through engagement with local communities via a participatory approach and citizen science to monitor floods and droughts, and to support climate change adaptation strategies among target Indigenous communities. A good understanding of Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) and practices of communities will enable policy planners, climate specialists, and ILK holders to create collaboration initiatives between Indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge systems.
Knowing our changing climate in Africa
UNESCO-LINKS supported a wide range of actions to support pastoralist communities from six African countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania), as part of a six-year project which supported transdisciplinary community-based research and dialogues with Indigenous knowledge holders, scientists and policy makers on how Indigenous knowledge could contribute to enhancing knowledge on adaptation by highlighting the views of pastoralist communities. The project contributed to an important set of methods on how adaptation plans in Africa can draw on Indigenous knowledge.
Strengthening capacities for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in disaster contexts
In 2020-2021, UNESCO implemented a pilot project in the Philippines and Honduras in collaboration with local communities, disaster specialists, national authorities and civil society representatives to help them better understand how their intangible cultural heritage may help disaster risk prevention and management.
Publications
This UNESCO LINKS initiative explores perspectives from the wider Caribbean region regarding Indigenous and local knowledge solutions to address climate impacts and vulnerabilities, including case studies on DRR, ecosystem resilience and recovery strategies.
The research of the project generated new knowledge and raised awareness on loss and damage caused by the adverse impacts of climate change. It also aimed to enhance tools and approaches to reduce loss and damage in the agriculture and tourism sectors in the Pacific and Southeast Asian Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The research was carried out in a total of thirteen communities in five countries: Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.
This initiative from the UNESCO Jakarta Office highlighted the importance of local knowledge in dealing with natural hazards in Indonesia, Philippines and Timor-Leste, and the need to identify what local knowledge prevails amongst communities in relation to early warning signals before introducing new scientific approaches. It also strongly advocated for local and Indigenous knowledge for DRR to be mainstreamed and disseminated through the school curriculum.
