The peculiarity of land globally in human development circles across landscapes foregrounds that land management requires sensitive and deliberate sustainability approaches. The concern for food security with smallholder farmers as the power base and the nature of dryland regions in the Global South suggests a proactive focus due to variations in soil water content in different seasons, particularly with the unpredictable climate change scenarios. The indigenous or traditional approach to climate change adaptation, based on the existing knowledge bank of indigenous peoples globally, is a verified knowledge domain preserved by local or indigenous communities through oral traditions. In agriculture and climate change, scientific efforts and inquiry into the reliability of indigenous knowledge for climate change adaptation and agriculture are growing. In other development circles like health and medicine, verification and adoption have been attained to a very high degree. The United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2015, through Conference of the Parties (COP) 22 in Paris, promoted the inclusion of indigenous knowledge systems. The Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples’ Platform (LCIPP) was the base formed for indigenous peoples’ participation in the global climate body UNFCCC. Evidences abound that phenological observations in plants, insects, and the animal kingdom are natural signals of climate and weather changes, suitable for climate change adaptation globally and drylands regions of the Global South in particular. Ancestral groups also used cloud formation, wind direction, and moon phases to interpret environmental changes. However, detailed documentation beyond oral traditions is gradually growing. Scientific investigations with an empirical focus are increasing to ascertain and improve on the existing correlations between indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge. In conclusion, the possibility of integration with existing adaptation strategies is very high.