Indigenous knowledge as decision support tool in rainwater harvesting

Rainfall patterns in semi-arid areas are typically highly variable, both spatially and temporally. As a result, people who rely completely on rainwater for their survival have over the centuries developed indigenous knowledge/techniques to harvest rainwater. These traditional water-harvesting systems have been sustainable for centuries. The reason for this is that they are compatible with local lifestyles, local institutional patterns and local social systems. In order to develop sustainable strategies, it is therefore important to take into account of, and learn from, what local people already know and do, and to build on this. This paper explores how indigenous knowledge is used by farmers in the Makanya catchment, Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania to identify potential sites for rainwater harvesting (RWH). The paper draws on participatory research methods including focus group discussions, key informant interviews, field visits and participatory workshops. Initial findings indicate that farmers do hold a substantial amount of knowledge about the resources around them. As there are spatially typical aspects to indigenous knowledge, it could be extrapolated over a wider geographic extent. From the preliminary findings, it is being recommended that geographic information system (GIS) could be an important tool to collect and upscale the utility of diverse indigenous knowledge in the decision-making process.