Abstract

Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), often overlooked in formal development discussions, offer a significant resource for enhancing the resilience of smallholder households reliant on livestock. By delivering strategies rooted in local contexts for managing resources, mitigating risks, and making adaptive decisions, IKS can play a pivotal role in tackling interconnected challenges within the climate–water–energy–health–food (CWEH–F) nexus. Thus, leveraging and incorporating this knowledge is crucial for fostering sustainable and resilient smallholder livestock production. Across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), smallholder livestock systems are fundamental to rural livelihoods, significantly contributing to food security, income generation, and nutritional well-being for healthy rural populations. However, these systems face increasing pressures from interacting stressors, such as climate variability, water scarcity, limited energy access, emerging zoonotic diseases, and disruptions in food systems. The CWEH–F nexus offers a systems-oriented framework to address these interdependencies; however, it remains largely disconnected from IKS. This study synthesizes interdisciplinary evidence of the role of IKS in bolstering resilience in smallholder livestock systems. The findings reveal that IKS enhances adaptive capacity through locally grounded practices, such as climate forecasting, adaptive grazing, ethno-veterinary medicine, and communal resource governance. These practices improve resource-use efficiency, reduce vulnerability, and support sustainable livelihood outcomes. Despite these contributions, the integration of IKS into formal nexus frameworks and policy processes remains limited. Key gaps include weak institutional recognition, insufficient gender disaggregated analysis, and challenges in scaling context-specific practices. The study concludes that effectively integrating IKS within the CWEH–F nexus requires adopting hybrid knowledge frameworks, participatory governance mechanisms, and inclusive policy environments. These integrative approaches facilitate the co-production of solutions that are both locally grounded and scientifically informed, thereby enhancing the sustainability of smallholder livestock systems, improving climate resilience, and reinforcing the interdependent resource dynamics that underpin the CWEH–F nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa.