Sustainable adaptation under adverse development? - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 190

Principle 3: integrate local knowledge into adaptation responses
The importance of local knowledge is closely linked to the principle of
recognizing differential and competing interests and how they are negotiated in
adaptation. Knowledge and problem understanding shape the solutions that are
formulated; hence, integrating local knowledge is important for empowering
vulnerable groups and furthering diverse local values and needs - not least
the adaptive capacity of the community as a whole in the face of dominant
development discourses.
In Ethiopia, unfavourable attitudes to pastoralism and distrust in the abilities
of pastoralists to adapt are contradicted by recent evidence of the ability of
pastoralists (in Borana state) not only to shift from seasonal planning to long-
term visions of sustainability, but also to reduce inequity and conflict and
upgrade traditional rangeland management systems with relevant external
information (Reid et al. 2013).
People in Mille and Uwwa hold detailed environmental knowledge codified
in collective memory of the past, involving strategies and practices for managing
variability that have been tried out for generations. Climatic events in recent
Afar history are recalled both by the elders and key informants and given
symbolic local names that reflect the multitude of contextual conditions that
create them. For example, the 2007 drought in Mille was called Laa sele ('cattle
are finished') and Baggexo ('diarrhoea'), an event where drought, conflict and
disease converged and 83 people died; and the 2010 famine was called Yeden lee
('the tying of the water'), signifying flooding from the dam.
Local knowledge, traditional forecasts and customs/moral codes of conduct
(often combined with formal climate information such as government flood
and drought warnings) are critical to dealing with environmental variability. In
Afar, teams of scouts are regularly sent out to other areas to observe the state of
the rangelands, the effects of rainfall and the suitability for grazing. There are
specific rules for most types of natural resource use: for instance the cutting of
live trees is forbidden, as is grass-cutting on communal land. Clans also have a
tradition of setting aside grazing land for difficult times and of preventing over-
grazing. This system regulates interaction between clans and households in the
use of common grazing areas. However, such rules come under pressure when
droughts are severe; in addition, with marginalization and destitution, people
are forced to migrate further, using up emergency grazing areas and cutting
trees. The 2004 drought in Mille was called Arkakis , 'scattered', reflecting
how drought forced the people to migrate; and the 2008 event in Uwwa was
called Goad maale , 'cut by the axe'. Moreover, a recent study indicates that the
practice of Afar traditional law is declining as a result of the deterioration of
pastoralist lifestyles, the displacement of pastoralists and disrupted clan land-
use boundaries (APDA 2010). Customary laws appear to be weakened by the
fact that they operate in parallel with the formal law system rather than being
supported by the formal system.