Can indigenous knowledge help us fight climate change?

Indigenous people represent only about six percent of the world’s
population, but they inhabit around a quarter of the world’s land
surface. And they share these regions with a hugely
disproportionate array of plant and animal life. According to the
UN and the World Bank, about 80 percent of our planet’s
biodiversity is on land where indigenous people live.


Global climate policy has however been slow to recognise that
indigenous knowledge - built up over centuries - is worth
listening to. This is despite the fact that sometimes in very
remote areas, where scientific and meteorological data is
lacking, this knowledge may be all there is. Indigenous knowledge
can provide valuable insight into what adaptations have worked in
the past, and so provide an important guide to the future.


What are the barriers to bringing indigenous knowledge out from
the margins of climate research and policy, and can they be
overcome?


Guests: Nancy Kacungira, journalist, BBC Africa Hindou Oumarou
Ibrahim, environmental activist and member of Chad’s pastoralist
Mbororo people and Earthshot Prize Council Nigel Crawhall, chief
of section, local and indigenous knowledge systems, UNESCO Aida
Sanchez, assistant professor at Norwegian University of Life
Sciences


Presenters: Neal Razzell and Graihagh Jackson Producer: Darin
Graham Researcher: Zoe Gelber Editor: Emma Rippon