Environmental ethics and future oriented transformation to sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The current study underscores the importance of environmental ethics as a vehicle for engaging society, businesses, and policy-makers towards mainstreaming transformation to sustainability. This reflects an innovative trend towards using narratives in social and management sciences, which needs to be replicated by other disciplines, organisations, agencies, and social groupings. In this paper, focus is on identifying storylines, phrases, myths, and local and indigenous knowledge systems of ethical and ecological significance. Using examples from written and unwritten narratives of Hausa – one of the widely spoken languages in sub-Saharan Africa, this study shines light on some key narratives relevant to present day critical environmental issues such as management of agricultural landscapes, municipal waste, ecosystem services, integrated natural resource management, and biodiversity loss. Environmental ethics drawn from the narratives provide an integrated platform where formal and informal institutions of sustainability can be strengthened, supporting transformation towards sustainability through enhancing ecological consciousness, skills, and attitudes.