Rethinking Conservation Communication in Rural Africa: A Case for Indigenous African Communication Systems (Iacs)

Abstract

Given the critical role the media play in public education and enlightenment in modern societies, it is likely there will be the temptation to depend on them for the success of conservation communication in rural areas. But a major problem with this approach is that the gospel of conservation may not resonate with majority of rural dwellers, especially in the African continent where a lot of rural people appear to depend on the forest for food and livelihood (Collaborative Partnership on Forest, 2012). Considering that the rural poor in the continent are unlikely to have access to the mainstream mass media and the new media (Mtega, 2012), it is important that alternative information channels and media are employed in communicating the benefits of conservation to them. Using rural Nigeria as a case study, this article analyses the shortcomings and challenges of conservation communication in rural Africa. It explores the use of Indigenous African Communication Systems (IACS) in making conservation information meaningful for rural people and concludes that appreciating the peculiarities of rural people and their communication environment is important in effective conservation communication in rural Africa.