Understanding climate risks with local communities: The case of eMadlangeni, KwaZulu-Natal

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Climate change poses a growing risk for rural South African communities which face increased exposure to extreme weather events. Despite these challenges, communities demonstrate coping mechanisms through Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK), rooted in traditional practices, environmental indications, and spiritual beliefs.

This paper examines ILK’s role in disaster risk reduction (DRR) using a qualitative case study approach, drawing on focus group discussions and interviews; analyzed through Dekens’ framework including ILK pathways. This paper shows that ILK is transmitted across generations, used by elders for early warning and accessed by youth yet is threatened by globalization and institutional biases. This paper calls for hybrid DRR strategies that integrate ILK with scientific knowledge, promote intergenerational transfer, and support inclusive decision-making, thus contributing to more culturally relevant and community-driven climate resilience efforts.

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