Confluence or Conflict between Indigenous and Western Scientific Knowledge on Climate Change: The Case of Wa, Ghana

Abstract

How can indigenous and western scientific knowledge engage climate change dynamics collectively? The study addressed the question through the analysis of primary and secondary data. The primary data was sourced from key informant interviews, group discussion and questionnaire administered to 90 indigenes while the secondary data, which comprised statistics on temperature and rainfall, was obtained from the Wa weather station. The results revealed increasing temperature from 27.5oC in 1970 to 28.6 oC in 2010, an increase ranging between 1.1oC – 1.6oC, and compatible outcomes from the two knowledge claims. Other findings included increasing wet rains and decreasing dry rains. The net effect on rainfall showed a generally decreasing trend over the period 1961- 2011 at the rate of y = -0.8685x + 1067.5. However, indigenous indicators revealed increasing rainfall, confirming incompatible outcomes from the two knowledge sources. The two knowledge sources know climate and any change thereof from accumulated historical information. Indigenous knowledge does this through lived experiences in a repetitive process stored in oral tradition and symbols. Western scientific knowledge does the same through observation, measurement and analysis, of which reports are stored in hard form (paper copies) or soft form (digital copies). Therefore,incompatible outcomes raise questions about intrinsic values and weaknesses embedded in the separate methods.