Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2
Philosophical foundations of
biophysical resource use with
special reference to Ghana
Alfred A. Oteng-Yeboah
Traditional religious philosophical thoughts on use
of the biophysical environment
Traditional religious philosophy considers the belief, doctrinal, spiritual, and/or
worship systems as tools in ensuring the harmony of life even before the issues
of the biophysical resources conservation and sustainable use come into play.
Folk stories, local drama, and other local forms of communication are replete
with information on how this is ensured.
Among the Akan people of Ghana, the philosophy has its foundations in the
traditional concept of land ownership. Danquah (1968) indicates that the living,
referring to present-day people, have an obligation to their ancestors to ensure a
proper stewardship of the land for the use of future generations.
Benneh (1990) makes reference to an expression of sustainability of land made
by
Nana
Sir Ofori Atta, in which the late chief conceives of land as belonging to
a vast family of whom many are dead, a few are living, and countless hosts are still
unborn. According to Abayie-Boaten (1999) this concept has shaped the percep-
tion of the African, in that through his relationship with nature, which is clothed in
religion with its attendant reverent attitudes towards it, he has developed an atti-
tude of a caretaker of his environment.
Significantly, the African regards the earth as a mother. In the Akan language,
the earth is often addressed as
Asaase Yaa,
i.e. Mother Earth. Mother Earth
is revered as the provider and sustainer of life. This is the philosophy behind
the offer of prayers in the form of libation-pouring before cultivation of the
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