Indigenous Knowledge and Community Institutions' Role in Pashtun Pastoral Community Resilience to Climate Change

Abstract

Indigenous knowledge and community institutions of pastoral communities play a pivotal role in resilience to climate change. This study aims to investigate the Pashtun pastoral community's culturally embedded indigenous knowledge, social structure, and social institutions' role in their resilience to climate change. It is revealed that climate change directly affects their natural resources, cultural traditions and livelihood, especially of the Pashtun pastoral community living in the mountainous region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is investigated that Pashtun pastoral community social structure (such as kinship bonds, brotherhood, and reciprocity) and cultural institutions strengthen their resilience to bounce back from the worst impact of climate change. It is revealed that the Pashtun pastoral communities’ indigenous knowledge is embedded in their folk literature, metaphors, poetry, and traditions. Their indigenous knowledge, and socio-cultural institutions, strengthen the Pashtun pastoral community's resilience to climate change.