Revisiting Indigenous Wisdom of Javanese Pranata mangsa. Comment on Zaki et al. Adaptation to Extreme Hydrological Events by Javanese Society through Local Knowledge. Sustainability 2020, 12, 10373

Abstract

This comment is on a paper by Zaki et al., who examined whether an effective agricultural system can be attained through the local wisdom of Pranata mangsa and its relationship to contemporary efforts in climate change adaptation, as positing Pranata mangsa as a strategy for recovery from natural disasters. In particular, the paper addresses the site-selection methodology of the four sample cities selected in their study of severe hydrological events by assessing the local and scientific knowledge. Pranata mangsa (the arrangement of seasons) is a local knowledge based on a calendrical system utilized historically by Javanese peasant farmers in conducting their agricultural activities. This indigenous wisdom is also employed by traditional fishermen to guide them not only in capturing fish and other aquatic animals but also in predicting the type of seafood they might gather. Although native Javanese people possess and maintain their own calendrical system based on a combination of solar and lunar calendars, Pranata mangsa is solely based on the former and is verbally passed on from one generation to the next. The literature has confirmed that, by combining this local wisdom and scientific data, the Javanese community has a better resilience in adapting to extreme hydrological events that occur as a consequence of global warming and climate change.