Abstract
In traditional African thought which is still prevalent in many places in Africa, despite the onslaught of globalization and the attendant consequences of colonialism, the forest is held and revered to be a sacred entity and in most cases the habitation of supra-human forces. Apart from clearing for cultivation and human residence, the forest was generally preserved and protected from endangerment. Today, in most places especially in urban Africathis is no longer the case. A colonialist ideology that commoditises the forest has taken root and some no longer see anything wrong in wanton destruction of forest land and degradation of forests. This work uses a critical method to interpret the African concept of the forest, propose reclaiming aspects of the African concept of the forest. The work finds and concludes that there are viable gems in the African heritage that can help to combat climate change and the environmental crisis.
Highlights
A key area of the environment is forest
The forests are important to human life, and important for the survival of other non-human lives and species that depend on the forest environment for survival and flourishing
In African metaphysical ontology, the intrinsic value of the forests is rooted in its pantheistic-psychic foundation, which implies that the divine active force and spirit of the creator pervade all creation
Summary
Received January 14th, 2013; revised February 16th, 2013; accepted February 28th, 2013. In traditional African thought which is still prevalent in many places in Africa, despite the onslaught of globalization and the attendant consequences of colonialism, the forest is held and revered to be a sacred entity and in most cases the habitation of supra-human forces. Apart from clearing for cultivation and human residence, the forest was generally preserved and protected from endangerment. In most places especially in urban Africa this is no longer the case. This work uses a critical method to interpret the African concept of the forest, propose reclaiming aspects of the African concept of the forest. The work finds and concludes that there are viable gems in the African heritage that can help to combat climate change and the environmental crisis
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