In Northern Namibia, the climate is highly
polarised between dry and wet seasons, and local communities
have lived with these varying weather extremes
for centuries. However, the recent changes in socio-environmental
dynamics—associated with urbanisation, inappropriate
spatial planning, and population growth—have
disturbed the river system in the area. These changes, together
with torrential seasonal rains, have aggravated the
social impacts of the flood events. By using various
qualitative and quantitative data sources, and comparative
analyses between the flood dynamics in urban and rural
environments, this research studies local residents’ coping
strategies to endure the irregular flood events from the
perspective of socio-ecological resilience. Particular interest
is placed on the learning processes that enhance the
residents’ capability to cope and the role of indigenous
knowledge. Indigenous knowledge (IK) has been emphasised
as a source of resilience in both theory and practice,
as it is built upon learning from past experiences of natural
hazards. The findings reveal that the floods are a result of
complex and relational development without the necessary
linear relationship between the causes and effects. The
abrupt socio-ecological changes, together with the multiple
stressors related to poverty, have made residents more
vulnerable to the flood events and attenuated the communities’
coping strategies based on IK. Instead of focusing
on the communities’ capacity to self-organise, the focus of
resilience building needs to be directed to emphasising the
broader socio-political processes, which are making the
communities vulnerable in the first place.