Advocating for Indigenous Knowledge Systems for Veld-Fire Reduction in Mitigating Climate Change in Masvingo Province of Zimbabwe

Introduction

This chapter advocates for Indigenous Knowledge Systems for veld-fire reduction in mitigating climate change in Masvingo Province of Zimbabwe. The chapter contends that through the application of indigenous knowledge systems, climate change can be arrested. There are certain issues of the environment which can be best tackled by imposing social restrictions through engaging taboos rather than legal restrictions. Legal restrictions can be evaded, sometimes challenged and also their effectiveness can be weakened by corruption. However, the consequences of violating taboos seem deterrent enough since they are spiritual and mystical in nature. In Masvingo Province of Zimbabwe, there are places that are designated as sacred and actions which are prohibited, thereby protecting both the physical and atmospheric environments. The phenomenon of protecting the environment in order to mitigate climate change through things like the protection of graves or the areas where people are buried, prevention of burning forests or cutting them down and other issues to do with the environment would be interrogated in this chapter.

It is pertinent to engage Indigenous knowledge systems when dealing with the environment considering that in Zimbabwe, vast tracks of vegetation are destroyed by veld fire annually, thereby facilitating the occurrence of climate change. Brazier (2015: x) defines climate change as follows:

Some observed effects of climate change include, but not limited to, reduced reliability of rainfall, increased frequency of floods, prolonged dry spells, droughts and other extreme events (Watson, Zinyowera, Moss and Dokken, 1998 and Brazier, 2015). In Zimbabwe, recorded temperatures have risen by 1 degree Celsius over the past 40 years of the 20^th Century, while rainfall and runoff decreased by 20 and 30 percent respectively (Watson et al (1998).

The destruction of the environment, one of such through veld-fire, inevitably causes climate change. According to the environmental management agency in Zimbabwe, veld fire gutted 165 352 94 hectares of land since the onset of the 2020 fire season, which mainly stretches from 31 July to 31 October every year. To reduce uncontrolled veld fires, this chapter makes a case for Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) as a viable means of addressing the issue. Primary data is obtained using semi-structured interviews with purposively selected participants in Masvingo province in Zimbabwe. Masvingo province has been for decades highly susceptible to veld fires which threaten the livelihoods of community members. Findings reveal that households employ various strategies such as evoking taboos that prevent destruction of sacred forests, among others, to reduce veld-fire in their community, which in turn enables them to maintain sources of their livelihood annually. The implications of these findings are discussed broadly in terms of the ways in which IKS can contribute towards controlling of veld fire in Zimbabwe thereby mitigating climate change.

Climate change has become a very serious concern worldwide and cannot be left to the western methods of mitigation. The indigenous knowledge system should assist regulatory authorities in crafting indigenous policies for mitigating climate change. The continuing environmental degradation, depletion of forests through veld-fire being one aspect that has damaged the environment resulting in global warming. Global warming would result in climate change as earlier shown in this chapter. Recent spate of heat waves across the globe is blamed on various human activities that includes veld fire. Veld - fire has two major problems i.e., destruction of vegetation which forms a great part of human livelihood and ecological support to the environment. Veld - fire emits carbon monoxide into the atmosphere and generates heat that impacts on weather patterns.