ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how indigenous communities bridge generational gaps to sustain their communication systems within their knowledge frameworks, thereby promoting environmental conservation. Traditional ecological knowledge faces increasing threats of extinction, which diminishes the wisdom transmitted to address urgent environmental challenges. While sub-Saharan countries are increasingly adopting Western methods and technologies, these often fail to prevent ecological degradation, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion, highlighting the importance of drawing on indigenous people’s holistic worldviews. Framing this discussion within Couldry, Ascroft, and Moemeka’s concepts of voice and participation, this chapter highlights strategies to maintain intergenerational knowledge transfer, mainly through revitalising oral histories and storytelling as vital means of transmitting ecological values. Although integrating indigenous knowledge into formal education and digital platforms can support preservation, this chapter asserts that community-based, organic transmission must remain central to conservation efforts. Collectively, these ideas position indigenous communication systems as channels of ecological wisdom and resistance, anchoring conservation in cultural identity and countering the homogenising influence of Western approaches.
