Decolonising environmental education in Africa through the early integration of indigenous knowledge systems guided by Zibanjwa Zisemaphuphu

The dominance of Western epistemologies in environmental education has marginalized Indigenous perspectives, limiting the development of inclusive, contextually relevant and sustainable education frameworks. This perspective paper critically explores the integration of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) into environmental education (EE) within African contexts, guided by the African proverb Zibanjwa Zisemaphuphu (“they must be moulded while still young”) which stresses the importance of instilling values from early childhood. Anchored in a conceptual research design, the study adopts a perspective review to explore how IKS can decolonise curriculum, pedagogy and policy across African education systems. Drawing from a scoping review of 25 scholarly sources, the study synthesises conceptual, pedagogical and policy-based perspectives on IKS integration. Anchored in Ubuntu, Granular Interaction Thinking Theory (GITT) and Nature Quotient (NQ), the study presents a culturally grounded framework that supports ecological ethics, epistemic justice and early childhood environmental learning. Key challenges identified include curriculum rigidity, lack of teacher preparedness and symbolic policy commitments. However, emerging innovations in storytelling, community co-teaching and land-based learning presents promising alternatives. The study concludes with practical principles for embedding African worldviews and Indigenous environmental wisdom into EE systems to foster sustainability, identity and justice from the earliest years of learning.