Environmental Security, Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Implications for Food Security in South Africa
Abstract The cases from KwaZulu Natal Province, South Africa show linkages between environmental security and indigenous knowledge systems for sustainable food security. Both secondary and primary sources are used. The paper advances the argument that the role of cultural specific environmental ethics in the province in research and development policy tends to be neglected. It recommends that in order to promote environmental security for sustainable food security, indigenous knowledge systems should be included in provincial environmental discourses and policy developments. This requires a paradigm shift in which the role of indigenous knowledge systems takes a central stage in the sustainable development policy strategies of the province and the country at large. This is based on the recognition that a large proportion of the people in the province and country, especially women in the marginalized communities, depend on these knowledge systems for livelihood in food security and natural resource management including biodiversity conservation.