Climate Action, Marginality and Indigenous Communities in Africa: Intersectionalities, Vulnerabilities and Traditional Knowledges

Book project

Editors: Dr Douglas Nyathi and Prof Admire Mare

Concept Note
When considering climate change, marginalized communities, and indigenous knowledge systems warrant particular attention. This is partly because the impact of climate change on marginalized territories and communities is expected to be disproportionate and severe due to their geographical location. There is no doubt that climate change poses a direct threat to many indigenous and marginalized societies due to their continuing reliance upon resource-based livelihoods. Most of these communities and populations are often ignored when climate adaptation and mitigation strategies are being discussed, designed and implemented. Their views
and experiences are rarely given the attention they deserve. In some cases, their knowledges, and coping mechanisms are ridiculed and treated with disdain. Thus, there is a need to understand the specific vulnerabilities and adaptation capacities of indigenous and marginalized communities. Indigenous and marginalized peoples, however, are not just victims of climate change. Their accumulated knowledge makes them excellent observers of environmental change and its related impacts. Attentiveness to environmental variability, shifts and trends is an integral part of their ways of life. Community-based and local knowledges may thus offer valuable insights into environmental change due to climate change and complement broader‐scale scientific research with local precision and nuance. Furthermore, indigenous communities and marginalized populations have elaborated diverse coping strategies to deal with change. While the environmental transformations caused by climate change are expected to be unprecedented, indigenous and local knowledge and coping strategies may nonetheless provide a crucial foundation for community-based adaptation measures.

Aim of the book
The aim of the book is to document, investigate, and analyze relevant indigenous and local observations, knowledges and practices on how marginalized communities and populations in Africa are dealing with adverse effects of climate change. It endeavours to contribute towards the development and documentation of new knowledge on climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation in the global South.

The specific objectives of the book are to:

• Advance new knowledge on climate change vulnerability, adaptation and mitigation with respect to indigenous peoples and marginalized populations, paying special attention to vulnerable African regions.
• Understand climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation from the perspective of local and indigenous knowledge experts in various regions on the continent.
• Analyse ‘thick descriptions’ of climate change as experienced by indigenous communities and marginalized populations in Africa.
• Provide policy relevant knowledge on intersectionalities, vulnerabilities, knowledges and adaptive capacity of indigenous peoples and marginalized populations in Africa.

Contributors are invited from within and beyond the continent to address any of the following topics:
Colonial legacies, Indigenous Peoples and Climate change
Understanding Indigenous People Worldviews and their Local interpretation of climate Change
Indigenous People, climate change vulnerability and Mitigation
Gender, Indigenous People and Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change
Indigenous Peoples, Climate change and Violence
Climate change, Poverty and Livelihood transition
Climate change, Covid-19 and Indigenous Food Systems
Indigenous People, Water and Climate change
Indigenous People, Ecotourism and Climate change adaptation
Indigenous People, Heritage cites and Climate change.
Climate change, health and well-being of Indigenous peoples
Role of Indigenous Knowledge in climate responses amongst the Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous People, Ecosystem Management and Climate Action
Importance of Language in Climate Change Action amongst the Indigenous People
Indigenous People and adaptation through Social Protection
Climate change, Law and Indigenous Peoples
Local Resource Management, Human-elephant conflict and Indigenous Peoples
Non-Governmental Organizations and Climate Action amongst the Indigenous Peoples
Communicating climate change amongst marginalized communities and groups
Reporting on climate change in rural and peri-urban communities in Africa

Submission Procedure
Scholars, practitioners, and policy makers are invited to submit their abstracts (300 words) to Dr Douglas Nyathi at dnyathi@uj.ac.za, Prof Joram Ndlovu at ndlovuj1@ukzn.ac.za and Prof Admire Mare at amare@uj.ac.za . Submissions should include authors’ information (names, affiliations, emails, and short bios). Accepted papers will undergo a double-blind peer review editorial process. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.
Authors of accepted chapters will also get a choice of a free e-book after publication.

IMPORTANT DATES
Abstract Submission Deadline October 15th, 2024
Communication of abstract review outcomes November 15th, 2024
Full Chapter submissions March 20th, 2025
Submission of the full book manuscript to the publisher April 30th, 2025