Documenting Community Local knowledge on Risk Reduction in Cameroon

 

Through the initiative of the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations on Disaster Reduction (GNDR), a group of CSOs in Cameroon is working with local communities to assess their level of vulnerability, capacity, on-going actions, and everyday barriers to mitigating the impact of disaster risk (DR). A process entitled Action, Reflection and Learning, or Action on the Frontline (AFL) is being used to engage community members in capturing multi-hazards, multi-scale risk types; low intensity, high frequency (everyday) risk and high intensity low frequency risks in communities. Indigenous/local knowledge and local coping strategies are assessed in the process, with clear indications on how people living in risk (especially landslides and seasonal floods) prone areas are coping with risk impacts.

The AFL process combines traditional or local knowledge with the scientific approach to better sort out ways of addressing disaster risk reduction (DRR) at the frontline. Through an interactive scooping and learning process, community members become aware of common risks around them, by starting to engage through a set of simple questions, either as individuals or during focused group discussions that include youths, women, the elderly and the disabled, about risk types in their communities. This includes asking community members exposed to multiple risk types to list most important threats (risks) that affect them. The identified risk types are then ranked. For each type, consequences are listed. A discussion is then made of what local or scientific approaches are used to mitigate the risk impacts.

The outcome of a number of individual conversations or focused group discussions are mapped and analyzed, then results are presented to the community members during a reflection session. Other approaches such as community participatory mapping are included in the process in order, not only to prick spatial thinking in the community members, but also to better understand their terrain. These reflection sessions also provide unique opportunities for members to exchange rich local knowledge and learn from one another on coping strategies. Designing and agreeing on common actions to overcome identified barriers in advancing DRR in the communities is also part of the process with input from facilitators (community based organizations).

A case study in Limbe (southwest Cameroon) led to community members embedding regular reflections on the situation of risks in their community during meeting sessions which were regularly held but without focusing on DRR issues. With the inclusion of DRR in their weekly/monthly meetings, members of the community became more aware of the risks common in their community, were better able to utilize  shared local knowledge and coping strategies in mitigating them, and thus in contributing to building a resilient community in which members have better hopes of living safely together. This activity is contributing towards understanding disaster risks better. Common community initiatives like building sand-bag embankments, have been developed that are aimed at reducing risk impacts.

Limbe lies on the southwest flank of the still active Mt Cameroon volcano, so indigenous populations living around the mountain have strengthened their use of indigenous/local knowledge (e.g., distinctive behavioral patterns of domestic animals, movement of wild animals and birds from one part of the volcano to another, changes in spring water temperature…) to predict impending  eruptions. This knowledge compliment scientific approach through the use of seismograms in monitoring the seismic activity of the mountain.

The big challenge in most of these communities is how to effectively mobilize necessary support from corporate, NGOs and local government in order to drive needed change in their communities, and also in which way existing local and scientific knowledge can be effectively combined to address multiple risks affecting their community. Most of these issues are underlying risk drivers like economics, environmental and societal issues. Addressing poverty, week environmental management and bad governance, need for individual change, and adapting to current realities, are some areas that require focusing on more.