Indigenous Knowledge of Climate Variability And Forecasting: Perspective of Borana Pastoralists From Northern Kenya

Abstract

In African dry lands understanding the patterns of climate variations is a challenge despite its importance in climate risks management. Although pastoralists have developed indigenous knowledge of weather patterns through long term interactions with their environments, it is seldom considered in conventional climate variability forecasting. This study used traditional historians and “weathermen" to understand the knowledge of Borana pastoralists in climate variability and forecasting. The findings indicated vast knowledge of detailing past weather events over a 90 year period and forecasting based on environmental and historical occurrences. The indicators used had metrological scientific basis and can improve the accuracy of conventional science if integrated.