Environmental ethics, religious taboos and the Osun-Osogbo grove, Nigeria

Abstract

PurposeThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) identifies building and development, a major corollary of population growth and urbanization, as the number one primary threat to the conservation of heritage sites worldwide. With efforts at conserving these sites focussing on anthropocentrism and ecocentrism, this study introduces and examines the role of the traditional African religion as a conservation strategy using the Osun-Osogbo grove in Nigeria as a case study.Design/methodology/approachSatellite imageries of the grove and surrounding areas were analysed for land-use and land cover change using Geographic Information Systems (GISs). A review of documentary evidence and key-informant interviews were also carried out on the state of the grove and how religious beliefs impact same.FindingsResults showed that between 1986 and 2017, vegetal covers decreased by 77.1% while built-up areas grew by 342.4%. Despite the phenomenal rate of urbanization in the study area, the grove remained largely intact and even recorded a marginal increase in its vegetal cover and plant species. Qualitative data revealed that the fear of the religious taboos associated with the resident goddess of the grove, rather than a moral responsibility to the environment, was responsible for these outcomes.Originality/valueThe application of remote sensing and GIS in a transdisciplinary study of cultural heritage makes the work novel and contributes to the methodological approaches for such studies. The findings also show the potency of religion in environmental and cultural conservation.

Akan Worldview on Human-Earth Relations for Environmental Conservation in Ghana

“…109 "For instance, despite the mass environmental destruction in Nigeria, the sacred grove at Osun-Osogbo was observed to have retained its state of sacredness, simply because that grove is thought of by the indigenous people that the Osun goddess resides there and it is the originating point of the Osun community, as well as the graveyard of the ancestors of the community." 110 It is instructive to note that inherent in the prohibitions associated with sacred forest groves among the Akan are ecological, sociological, and ethical significance. The ban on farming, hunting and lumbering in sacred forest groves are Akan indigenous means of conserving special species of flora and fauna which can easily be extinct.…”

Faith Interactions in Osogbo, Nigeria: A Muslim Perspective

“…The Federal Government of Nigeria later released the fund to Osun Cultural Heritage towards the establishment of museums and monuments around the Osun groove. 31 The National Museum, in its movement towards the establishment of a branch through its officials, sought to demolish the Arabic and Islamic Training Centre with a seven-day quit notice as advertised by Daily Sketch on Tuesday 6 th June 1989. The advertisement generated heat in the town and strong reactions from Muslims, Muslim scholars as well as fir-minded people who felt that the action was unjust.…”