Guide on Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples

Africa• Local farmers are practicing zero-tilling practices in cultivation, mulching,and other soil-management techniques. These activities are known tomoderate soil temperatures, suppress diseases and harmful pests, andconserve soil moisture. Small scale farmers also use indigenous plantmaterials such as agrochemicals to combat pests that normally attackfood crops.• Pastoralists adapt to climate extremesby making use of emergency fodder,culling of weak livestock for food, andmulti-species composition of herds tosurvive climate extremes. They also tryto move from the dry northern areasto the wetter southern areas duringdrought season in order to survive andsustain their domestic animals.• Women plant crops that are moreresistant to droughts and pests,providing a reserve for extended periods of economic hardships. Theyalso select and save seeds for planting each year. They preserve a varietyof seeds that will ensure resistance to the range of conditions that mayarise in any given growing season. 9• Other indigenous strategies include controlled bush clearing; using tallgrasses for fixing soil surface nutrients which have been washed awayby runoff; erosion-control to reduce the effects of runoff; restoring landsby using green manure; constructing stone dikes; managing low-lyinglands and protecting river banks. 10• The Bara province, situated in Western Sudan, is adapting to landdegradation and other impacts of recurring drought through Community-Based Rangeland Rehabilitation (CBRR) being implemented in 17villages. The project was able to put up a local office coordinatingcommunity development affairs, regeneration and stabilization of 5km.of sand dunes to halt expansion of the desert, construct windbreaks toprotect farms from soil erosion, and replaced goats with more resilientand less damaging sheep and better managed wells and preparation ofdrought contingency plans.Asia• Asian indigenous peoples are growing many different varieties of cropsin order to minimize the risk of harvest failure and this is supplementedby hunting and fishing.PART IV: Adapting to Climate Change: Indigenous Peoples Show the Way 41