Climate change critically threatens the livelihoods of the Tonga people in Zambia’s Gwembe Valley, who depend on rain-fed agriculture. Their resilience is historically rooted in Indigenous Astronomical Knowledge (IAK)—using celestial patterns to forecast weather and guide planting. However, this invaluable system is eroding due to lack of documentation, marginalization in national policy, and cultural disruption.
This project directly addresses this crisis by preserving IAK and, crucially, modernizing it to enhance community resilience. We propose a dual approach: safeguarding IAK through co-produced documentation with communities, then validating and upgrading it by cross-referencing indigenous indicators with over a decade of meteorological data. This synergy confirms the validity of IAK while introducing novel forecasting tools.
The outcome is a practical, co-developed toolkit, including a bilingual Farmers’ Almanac, to empower informed agricultural decision-making. This will yield immediate societal benefits (improved health, water management, and protection for vulnerable groups) and economic gains (optimized crop/livestock management, more efficient use of inputs, and enhanced production planning).
Crucially, the project engineers policy advocacy to ensure IAK is integrated into Zambia’s National Adaptation Plan (NAP), which explicitly recognises the value of blending indigenous and scientific knowledge. A permanent Indigenous Astronomical Observatory Hub will ensure sustainability.
Expected impact includes short-term improved forecasting accuracy for farmers and long-term, sustainable integration of IAK into climate science and national frameworks. This initiative doesn’t replace IAK; it nurtures it with modern techniques, respecting cultural heritage, building trust, and equipping communities with a robust toolkit for climate resilience.
Funded by the Development in Africa through Radio Astronomy (DARA), a project under the UK Science and Technologies Facilities Council
