Religious and Cultural Values and Ethics on the Environment.

      Religious beliefs, spiritual practices and the cultural values of the society play a major role in encouraging environmental conservation, preservation and all the likes in our environment in that these factors advocates the need to maintain harmony with the total environment.

     There are links between man and the supernatural and between the living and their ancestors and descendants; between members of the community; and between man and natural objects such as trees, forests, streams, ponds, rocks, and hills, where the spirit of ancestors and gods and goddesses may reside awaiting rituals and sacrifice.


     There are taboos against the destruction of desecration of sacred objects and places, and laws, customs and injunction that have been handed down from ancestors, which if observed would protect the environment. Cooperative and community spirit are the hallmark of conservation and preservation.

                      

                         Values, Ethics and World View.

 

      Human societies whether pre-industrial or industrial,non-literate or literate, traditional or modern, holds certain beliefs attitudes and values towards the environment in which they live. Values are the established ideals or norms of life, customs and ways of acting which members of a given society regards as desirable, while ethics are the moral obligations, conducts, duties and judgement that are acceptable in a given society.

     Attitudes to the environment are therefore determine by values and ethics, hence they form part of the cultural plexus of a society. Culture refers to the totality of values, ethics, customs, arts and the traditional institutions that have been adopted for educating and training of members of a community and for processes of socialization.

     Analysis of culture reveals the fundamental principles that inform beliefs, attitudes and actions of members of a community towards the environment that supplies their basic need such as food, fuel, and shelter.

     The distinctive set of belief, values, ethics and attitudes in a society constitutes the world view, or philosophy or ethics of the society. Since awareness to the environment must be foster to engender knowledge of environmental problems, skills and attitudinal change towards environmental protection.

     Therefore there must be that mobilization of the community to participate in environmental conservation programs, understanding the role of the environment in the world view of a society is crucial if community environmental education and actions programs are to be effectively implemented. The world view of any community therefore provides the fertile grounds wherein the seed of environmental conservation and preservation can germinate.

     In Africa, the traditional society generally share the same philosophies with the world views. This is evident from their religious beliefs and practices. As opines by Andah (1988) African Traditional Religion (ATR) are synonymous with and inseparable from African world views. Environmental perception in African traditional religions and human relationship with nature furnish a most effective foundation and logistics for introducing environmental concepts into the communities. Read more here....