The Bwaba community of Burkina Faso shows how Indigenous Communities model resilience to climate change
Burkina Faso is a West African country. The capital city is Ouagadougou. It borders six countries, Mali to the northwest, Niger to the north and east, and Benin, Togo, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire to the south. Located in the western part of Burkina Faso, the Mouhoun loop region covers an area of 34,145km² and has six provinces (Balé, Banwa, Kossi, Mouhoun, Nayala, and Sourou). The city of Dédougou is the capital of the Mouhoun province and of the region. It is located 230km from the capital.
Endogenous knowledge as a strategy for adaptation to climate change in Bwaba community
The Bwaba community, which lives in the city of Bankuy (translated as ‘the city of the forest’) in the canton of Dédougou[1] is a group of 40 villages located in the loop of the Mouhoun river. The language and culture are called Bwamu. The major concern of the community has always been to have enough land to carry out economic activities as they are essentially farmers. The environmental protection mechanisms that existed had a spiritual basis. Indeed, the spirituality of the Bwaba is linked to nature in all its aspects, i.e. the soil, forestry, rivers, mountains and all the biodiversity found in the region. In fact, the name of the divinity in the Bwamu language is 'Gnilé' or 'Dofini' or 'Dombwè', which corresponds to nature. Therefore, nature, which corresponds to God, is entitled to respect, as it has a sacred character.
For this reason, the first sacred symbol of a Bwaba village is a sacred forest. As wood is sacred, it is forbidden to cut or kill any trees. The sacred wood also contains the secrets of the community and served as a refuge for the community during wars because of its density, hence, its name in Bwamu ‘Loba’ which means ‘sacred and secret’. The illustration of the sacred nature of this place is the fact that any living being who takes refuge there in the sacred wood has their life saved, as this place cannot be violated. Even the hunting dogs were trained in this sense not to destroy nature or anything within it. This is done in order to protect the biodiversity found there. In addition, there are plant species fully protected by laws prohibiting cutting and burning of these species inscribed in inviolable customary law. The preservation mechanisms put in place for this purpose were established to give these species a sacred and mystical character. Thus, these species were believed to contain the soul of the family and anyone who cut down this species was committing a crime as they were killing a family member.
There are also other species that were believed to have mystical virtues, such as a species of shrub similar to a wild guava tree called 'Bonkignou' which grows in a bush. The ‘Bonkigno’ protects the environment, preserving this species thus has a sacred character. There is also the 'Nouhoun', which is a shrub with magical powers that grows into a bush that has the power to make anyone who comes to take shelter there invisible when faced with danger. Fruit trees such as the Néré were also said to be sacred and were only cut down when they are dried up and dead already.
Similarly to plant species, protection applied also to watercourses through giving them a sacred character, just as the mountains with all their biodiversity and the caves that housed animal species that needed protection were qualified as sacred. Agroforestry was also practiced to preserve soil fertility instead of clear-cutting of all trees in an area to be used as an agricultural field. This is because Indigenous People and local communities understood the importance of nature at an early stage, as their lives depended on it, as they lived primarily from gathering before farming.
The contribution of traditional knowledge as a strategy for adaptation strategies to climate change and loss and damage
Traditional knowledge systems in Burkina Faso demonstrate that it is possible to co- construct and design improved technical interventions into natural systems in order to strengthen resilience to climate change without disrupting the natural world. Based on this experience, a project for changing harmful exploitation practices of nature could be developed and implemented with the involvement of elders and based on the revitalization of traditional knowledge.
Some of activities that could be carried out include the creation of more protected forests and woods, scaling up the practice of agroforestry and using traditional techniques for securing the banks of the Mouhoun River. The practice of crop rotation and the variation of crops that promote soil restoration could also be scaled up.
Moreover, the agricultural and pastoral sectors in Burkina Faso in general and in Loo are particularly affected by climate change. In this context, the mobilization of the endogenous knowledge is a contribution for strengthening pastoralists’ and farmers’ adaptative capacity in their struggle against climate change.
Some endogenous agricultural and pastoral techniques may add value in the effort to adapt to climate change. These center on the experiences and traditional practices of agropastoralism, transhumance, the refitting of the agricultural calendars, the use of the organic manure, the diversification of the herds, the settling of community grain storage facilities, the digging of communal water pools and for irrigation and the protection of livestock corridors. All these long established practices are rediscovered and/or improved by farmers in the context of their struggle for survival in the face of climate change. Those resilience building and survival measures undertaken by the livestock farmers and farmers should be integrated into development projects to ensure their climate compatibility.
[1] Acknowledgements: I would like to express my sincere thanks to the chief of the Dedougou canton and his notables. I would also like to thank the clan of griots and traditional mask bearers who were very helpful during the interviews.