African Archaeology in Times of Climate Change Crisis
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 15/09/2023

The relevance of archaeology in climate change debates cannot be overemphasized. Climatic adaptation and mitigation is a historical, cultural and material phenomenon – the temporal trends that archaeology explores thus set a critical foundation for the future. Globally, the Net-zero agenda has been embraced with most countries hoping to achieve the desired emission and absorption levels by the year 2050. But while the focus is on future global levels of emissions, the effects of global warming continue to be felt unevenly around the world, especially in the Global South, including Africa. Here archaeological narratives drawing on deep Indigenous Knowledge and weaved through transdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches, can play an important role in advising policy and communities in several ways. This lecture will discuss archaeology’s potential contribution to climate action using lessons learnt from arid Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia where global warming has claimed the lives of millions of people and animals. The cases presented will particularly focus on past human and environment interactions in these regions and how these relationships have been interrupted by global warming.

Freda Nkirote M’Mbogori