Journal of Research in Peace, Gender and Development (ISSN: 2251-0036) Vol. 2(2) pp. 034-043, February 2012
Available online@ http://www.interesjournals.org/JRPGD
Copyright ©2012 International Research Journals
Review
Ethical Basis of African Traditional Religion and Sociocultural Practices in Natural Resources Conservation and
Management in Cross River State, Nigeria
*1Eneji C.V.O, 2Ntamu G.U, 3Ajor J.O, 4Ben C.B, 5 Bassey John E and 6James J. Williams
*1
Department of Geography (Rural Development), Federal University of Technology, Yola, Nigeria
2
Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, University of Calabar, Nigeria
3
Department of History and International Relations, University of Calabar, Nigeria
4
Department of Vocational and Special Education, University of Calabar
5
Adult Education and Community Development, University of Calabar
6
College of Education, Hong, Adamawa state, Nigeria
Accepted 09 January, 2012
This paper x-rays the role of African Traditional Religion and socio-cultural practices in the
conservation of natural resources management in Cross River State. The authors examined some of
these religious and cultural practices ranging from their way of worship, the rites of initiation, and the
invocation of the powers of the supreme beings, which they hold as sacred, and how these gods
communicate their will to humans through their agents (chief priest) and how the gods are atoned if
provoked. The tenets of African religious and cultural practices is premised on the ascription of
psychic powers to some or part of the environment as the abodes of the gods of the land and how
these abodes are protected. The protection of the abodes of the gods from entrance, utilization and
exploitation does latently encourage conservation and management of natural resources. Some of
these abodes of the gods are nicknamed sacred pond, evil forest, forbidden forest, sacred stream or
river, sacred grove, and burying grounds amongst others. Largely, these forbidden areas contributed
immensely in natural resources conservation and management in Cross River State and indeed Nigeria
as a whole. But unfortunately, this all important strategies for natural resources conservation and
management based on these religious belief systems and socio-cultural practices have almost been
completely eroded away by the acculturation and enculturation of almost all African communities by
the coming of Christianity with their western type of education. This Christian way of religion, worship
system and education saw nothing good in African traditional religious practices we came to belief
and held on to. The authors used literature review and personal interview for the study. The authors
recommended that there should be an urgent need for a revisitation of the principles of traditional
African religion and other socio-cultural practices. It was also recommended that modern conservation
programs should integrate traditional /indigenous knowledge systems into their activities in the
conservation and management of our natural resources for the wellbeing of Nigerian and indeed the
world at large.
Keywords: African traditional religion, socio-cultural practices, natural resources conservation, sacred grove,
evil forest and Christianity.
INTRODUCTION
In time past, local people have developed a variety of
Corresponding Author E-mail: vcogareneji@yahoo.com;
Tel: +23481 6488 4244
resource management practices that continue to exist in
tropical Africa, Asia, South America and other parts of the
world (Appiah-Opoku, 2007) traditional African societies
also follow ethics that often help them regulate
interactions with their natural environment (Shastri et al.,
2002).
Eneji et al. 035
African traditional religion (ATR) is the only religion
peculiar to African with its characteristics, features and
symbolism common to Africans alone. The coming of
western religion and their education system eroded the
rich cultural values and religious diversities of African.
Rather western education and their religious belief
system described as alien religious beliefs and cultural
systems dominated ATR, these belief systems are rather
inimical to the growth, unity, peace and cohesion of our
communities. These belief systems gave man the fiat
order of using the environment and its resources the way
man likes, encouraging the depletion of our natural
resources base which is the only inheritance handed over
to us over the years. Traditional African religion (ATR)
and cultural practices as done in most part of African
communities
are
environmentally
friendly
and
sustainable, thus contributing so much to natural
resources sustainability and conservation (International
Institute for Environment and Development, 1992). The
coming of western religion and their cultural orientation
and acculturation has impacted negatively in the course
of man’s existence. From the very first page of this alien
religious (Christian) holy book, Genesis 1: 26, in the story
of creation, God gave man a fiat order and an unchecked
authority to rule over the whole world, the fishes, animals
of the earth and the whole plants of the universe, the
birds of the sky, livestock, and wild animals on land and
in the sea. The command was given to man to subdue
the earth and all the creatures of the earth and all it
resources and take control of it. Wilson (1998) opined
that the implication of this word dominion has both
domination and stewardship apparatus. From the
domination perspective, humans are said to have
domination over the natural environment in ways that
empowers us to treat nature the way it please us. This
perspective sees natural environment as having been
merely instrumental or having extrinsic value and
provides justification for humanity's exploitation of natural
resources premised on the fact that it is our right as
superior creatures, heirs apparent and controlling God's
creation on earth. This is the beginning of our
environmental woes and conflict.
Again the messiah, Jesus Christ, was an
environmental dwarf, he cursed the fig tree himself
because the fig tree could not give him fruits when he
was hungry (Matt. 21:18-20, NIV). He did not consider
what he wrote in the same holy bible (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8),
that for everything under the sun, there is time, but Jesus
forgot to understand that this may not be the season for
the fig tree to bear its fruit, besides, the fundamental
question is if this fig tree did not bear fruit at this
particular time of the year, does it mean it will not bear
fruit again? Aside from this fundamental question, is the
importance of trees or vegetation only for food? What
about other environmental services offered by this vege-
tation? These all point to the skewed position of the alien
religion introduced to us by the European to the detriment
of our traditional African religion and cultural practices
(International Institute for Environment and Development,
1992, McCammon, 2003).
In Africa and indeed Nigeria, the traditional belief
system holds the ascription of supernatural powers to
objects called gods and goddesses. The major tenet of
African traditional religion and belief system lies in the
belief that the abode of the gods and goddesses is
located within the community, they may decide to have
their abodes on rock, streams, pond, tress, land or
anywhere they so desire to live. The gods choose their
followers through the rites of initiation with a core
messenger who is the mouth piece of the gods living
among human beings.
The gods or goddess
communicate its will to the people through the juju priest
or chief priest. The belief system is that the gods protect
the community members from harm, famine, bareness,
impotence, drought, epidemics, and war among others.
The gods avenge their anger on whoever omits or
commits any flaw for which their presence forbids, hence,
the cultural system holds to a very high esteem all the
precepts of the laws of the gods (Shastri et al., 2002).
In most parts of Africa, things like sacred groves like
those found in Ghana and other West African countries
are very practical systems of indigenous strategies for the
management and conservation of our natural
environment within the rural communities. In a research
on traditional and indigenous methods of conserving
biodiversity, Ntiamoa-Baidu (1991) identified three
indigenous methods for conserving biodiversity in Ghana
and other West African sub region, (Nigeria inclusive).
These methods include:
•
Religious traditions: temple forests, monastery
forests, sanctified and deitified trees
•
Traditional tribal traditions: sacred forests, sacred
groves and sacred trees
•
Royal traditions: royal hunting preserves, elephant
forests, royal gardens etc.
•
Livelihood traditions: forests and groves serving as
cultural and social space and source of livelihood
products and services (Simberloff, and Abele, 1976).
The traditions are also reflected in a variety of
practices regarding the use and management of trees,
forests and water. These include:
•
Collection and management of wood and non-wood
forest products.
•
Traditional ethics, norms and practices for restraint
use of forests, water and other natural resources
•
Traditional practices on protection, production and
regeneration of forests.
•
Cultivation of useful trees in cultural landscapes and
agroforestry systems.
036 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
•
Creation and maintenance of traditional water
harvesting systems such as tanks along with plantation of
tree groves in proximity to the water sources.
•
The Protection of any specific fauna or flora species
making it a totem and taboo in such communities e.g.,
Umuaro in Nigeria, male deer or stag is a totem, while in
Nnewi, the pyton is a totem. In Bekwarra, the road runner
is also a totem.
•
Control and regulating the exploitation of
environmental / natural resources during different parts of
the year e.g. like some parts of Boki, during rainy season;
some wood species cannot be cut down. Likewise some
animal species cannot be harvested during the dry
season for fear of extinction.
•
The protection of some particular ecological systems
or biome or habitats in the name of sacred groves, evil
forest, burial grounds, sacred rivers, and rocks. (Silori
and Badola, 2000).
These beliefs and strategies are passed on to those
who become initiated into adulthood in the community
during the rites of initiation. Most often, it is the men that
are always initiated into these community cults or sects
which are often enshrined in religious or cultural beliefs
and superstitions and enforced by taboos. The taboos
and beliefs have legal backing in the rules and institutions
of the communities which are strong enough in the past
to make people obey the religious and cultural
regulations ((Venkataraman, 2000; Cox, 2000).
Ethical Bases for African Traditional Religion and
Socio-Cultural Practices
Ethics has to do with the body of moral principles or
values held by or governing a culture, groups or
individual in any society. It can also be seen as a moral
precepts or a code of conduct for any society.
The issue of Ethical basis and practical support for
natural resources management and conservation lies
within the African traditional religion and Islam and their
socio-cultural practices. In the assessment of the
effectiveness of the ethical bases of African traditional
religion and their socio-cultural practices in natural
resources management, Professor Stuart Harrop, a
Professor of Wildlife Management Law and Director of
the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE)
at the University of Kent, carried out several projects in
three of the world's conservation hotspots. According to
Henshey (2011) these projects were funded by Darwin
Initiative; the study examines the extent of relationship
between conservation and the tenets of Islamic religious
practices in conservation in Sumatra. The next project
was also funded by the Economic and Social Research
Council and Natural Environment Research Council Inter-
disciplinary Studentship Scheme (Deb and Malhotra,
2001; Cox, 1995).
This project investigated the core relationship between
socio-cultural practices and belief, sacred and forbidden
sites (grooves, ponds, streams, rocks, animals and trees)
and bird migration in central and North Africa. While the
third research project by Professor Stuart Harrop was
financed by the Christensen Fund, this project examined
the role of sacred forest sites in southwest Ethiopia in
forest and other natural resources conservation
(Henshey, 2011; Deb et al., 1997; Cox, 1995).
Professor Harrop’s aims on these three projects were
to show the interrelationship between these religion and
cultural practices and how conservation can benefit from
them. Stuart advocated for the integration of key religious
and cultural concepts and traditional conservation
approaches into conventional management policies for
the management, plans and the conservation of
community’s natural resource management strategies.
While this is so, in Sumatra, there are some key principle
elements of Islam in the land use management policies
adopted (Henshey, 2011; Singh, 2002; Smith, and
Wishnie, 2000).
Confirming the position of the Holy Qur'an on
conservation, some key chapters and verses supports
the conservation of natural resources: Fitrah, Mizan and–
Tauhid, Khalifah, these portion identified specifically the
role of man in resources conservation. In Sumatra, some
management policies support the introduction of religious
doctrines into land management policies, these areas are
Al-Mawat, land regeneration plan, Harim for water
resource protection, Himoar for sustainable resources
management (Henshey, 2011, (Johnson et al., 2001).
How do African traditional religions (ATR) protect
natural resources?
Mkenda, (2010) observed that in the contemporary
African worldview, there exist a dichotomy between
things that are believed to be secular and those that are
religious. He noted that the way people view the
universe has changed. That science and western
education has influenced man’s sense of reasoning and
judgment about the world which is no longer viewed in
the religious sense but rather it is looked at as something
to be totally exploited for the benefit of the human being.
Africans in the contemporary time should borrow a leaf
from traditional Africa. They should use African cultural
heritage in the preservation and rehabilitation of the
environment that has been destroyed and degraded by
selfish economic motives of few people (Mkenda, 2010;
Snoo and Bertels, 2001).
A scholar of African Traditional Religion, John S. Mbiti
Eneji et al. 037
in his book “African Religions and Philosophy”, (1969),
the author started with the statement “Africans are
notoriously religious” the implication is that religion
permeates and penetrates the whole life of an African.
African traditional religion is a religion typically integrated
in daily life. For the Africans there is no clear-cut
separation between what is secular and what is sacred.
Everything and every act are looked upon in a religious
and customary perspective. Africans view themselves as
part of the environment (Mkenda, 2010, Taylor, 2002).
Man is conceivable only in this cosmic interweavement.
This web of relationship is what makes Africans view the
earth as their mother and themselves as her children.
Little wonder, Africans refer to their land as mother earth.
Despite the fact that humanity, nature and the gods are
distinct concepts, they belong to some ontological
categories that are interrelated and interdependent.
Therefore plants, animals, rock, water and other nonliving things are part of nature, which is the product of
creation deserving to be respected as much as human
beings who are also part of nature. This is what makes
Africans regard themselves as being in close relationship
with the entire cosmos. In the traditional African culture,
being was not independent of nature (Taylor, 2002).
In traditional African societies, many people believed
that trees and forests were the manifestation of the power
of the Supreme Being. They saw these things as ideal
places to meet their supreme being or the gods.
Traditional African societies had many shrines, which
were associated with big trees such as mimosop, fig
trees and baobabs, iroko, mahogany among others.
These trees together with the vegetation around were
preserved as sacred places for worship. Africans did not
just attach much importance to trees and herbs just for
spiritual purposes, but also because trees, herbs and
plants in general were useful in enhancing human life.
Apart from being symbols of god’s presence among
people, trees were seen as medicine to man and
animals. Trees, leaves, roots and grasses provided
herbal medicines to human beings and to wild animals as
well as domestic animals (Thompson and Homewood,
2002, Tilman, 2000). For traditional Africans, land and
water were precious gifts from God the Creator. Africans
have a strong connection with the land not only as an
economic resource, but as a home, a place of sacrifice
and offerings. When traditional Africans struggled or
fought for land, they were not simply struggling or fighting
for it economically but for socio-cultural, moral and
religious motives. The African beliefs and taboos helped
in enforcing rules and regulations for environmental
preservation because people refrained from using
resources carelessly, especially as it is related to sacred
places.
Some Belief System in Cross River State
In almost every traditional African setting or community,
each community has what they revere or hold sacred
either as the presence of their gods or their goddesses,
or there is a very important role such objects played in
the course of their existence. In Umuaro, the male deer
(stag) is a totem because it did something for the
community. In Nnewi, pyton is man’s friend, the killing of
python is an abominable act, so they are held sacrosanct,
In Gakem in Bekwarra of Cross River state, the road
runner (anyiribom) is not killed as ancient legendry has it
that during war, the bird goes after the people of Gakem
and erase their footprint so that enemies would not
understand that the Gakem people have passed through
that place. In the Islamic tradition and religion, the pig is a
forbidden animal (totem) because during the Jihad war,
there was very serious water scarcity; it was the pig that
those who are followers used to trace the source of water
to keep them alive to fight to finish during the war. This
account for the reason they don’t harm or eat pork
because it helped them during this time. In the whole of
Cross River, there is hardly any community that exists
without a sacred groove, evil forest, sacred pond, evil
stream, or forbidden forest. Where some part of the
environment is delineated for the worship of the gods
(Eneji et al., 2009; Tiwari et al., 1998).
The belief on the ascription of certain part of the
environment as the abodes of the gods, with the gods
communicating their will/wish through their human agents
(messenger) living within the communities, where the
gods can be consulted when the need arises. Here, the
human agents carry out the prescribed sacrifices for the
gods. Most often the gods here are consulted in difficult
times during war, famine, drought, barrenness,
impotence, crop failure, epidemic outbreak etc. Most
often these outbreaks may be as a result of punishment
for an offense committed against the god of the land. The
part of the environment where the abodes of the gods
could be stream, pond, rocks, tree, land etc. In most
communities, they have different gods were they hold in
reverence. In Etung local government, they have the god
of “ogbogoro”; this god is believed to be the god of
fruitfulness and the gift of children. When there is poor
harvest in the Ejaghamland, (Etung, Akamkpa) they
make sacrifices to this god. When a woman after
marriage cannot have children, the god of ogbogoro is
appeased with a sacrifice, thereby making request for
children from such gods. The abode of the god of
ogbogoro is located in the forest, this part of the forest if
forbidden from trespass. The god of ogbogoro has its
rules and regulation that must be strictly followed;
omission of these rules is an offense punishable by the
038 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
law of the land. To appease the gods, to avert the
punishment from this offense, some sacrifices need to be
done, such atonement or sacrifices for such offense may
include sacrifice with chicken, goats, cow, kola nut, or risk
being killed in a mysterious way by the gods or
goddesses ( Eneji et al., 2009a, b).
In Adihe village, Otukpuru ward, Bekwarra, the
“ogolobi” pond is a mysterious pond harvested by the
entire Bekwarra kingdom once in seven years. The only
species of fish harvested, brought together and shared
together by everybody present is the mudfish; any other
species of fish caught during this day is owned by
whoever catches it during the harvesting period. The
Ogolobi pond is such that nobody goes there to fish alone
within this period of seven years on his or her own.
During the community harvesting period, there are two
peculiar things that normally happens, the harvesting is
done during the dry season, when the spirit wants the
harvesting to come to an end on that day the community
is harvesting, a big fish with a string of cowry will come
through where the people are harvesting the fish, once
the mother fish with the cowries is sighted by anybody,
the harvesting must stop and everybody inside the cave
must be called out of the pond. The next thing that
happens is that on the evening or night of the harvesting
of fish from the Ogolobi pond, there must be rainfall to
show that the spirit of the gods and the living are in
tandem. Even if you go fishing alone, the punishment
begins by having a bloated stomach and later death no
matter the sacrifice made. So entrant into the pond alone
is frightening. Within the pond in question there is an
iroko tree and a mahogany tree, these trees are well over
seventy years. There is also a cobra well over thirty years
and more than 3 meters long. These are believed to be
mysterious, because the last time a hunter tried killing the
snake, the story was indeed a very sad one (Eneji et al.,
2009; International Institute for Environment and
Development, 1992).
In Beten also in Bekwarra, there is another rock called
‘’Uka Ochi’ifu” the rock here is believed to be the tomb of
those killed during the first Bekwarra intertribal war with
the Tivs of Benue state, this rock also is believed to be
the place where the Nigerian and Biafran soldiers that
were killed during the war were buried., nobody does
anything within the rock zone. In Bewo another
community in Bekwarra, there is a forest and a stream
where there is human hand print. Ancestral legend has it
that when Odama Ashide had a problem with his brother,
he migrated away from Obanliku and as they got to this
small stream in Bekwarra, Odama being full of age had to
put his hands on the rock by the shore of the stream to
enable him cross the stream, his hand remained
imprinted there till today. In the forest and the stream,
fishing and other activities are not allowed within this
place. In Etung, there is a sacred pond called salt lake
(Ejagham Lake). Harvesting of fish here is strictly
prohibited, but when fish leaves this lake to another
stream, harvesting can be done there in the stream.
There is also the traditional Ekpe cult in most Ejagham
and Efik communities, while in Obudu the Ekwong
traditional institutions guide the conduct of men in the
community. These sector groups as approved by custom
and tradition of the land also confer the powers to protect
and also monitor the use of some community resources.
Usually membership into this group is on strict
qualification with terms and condition of membership
strictly spelt out and passed down to community
members for onward transmission to their children while
growing up. Most often the process of initiation is a
transitive one, from adolescent to adulthood and done in
the night deep inside the forest. This transition is saddled
with a lot of responsibilities (Eneji et al., 2009, Eneji et al.,
2009, Bakanja, 2010; Appiah-Opoku, 2007; Kimmerer,
2002).
In Boki, there is an evil forest at Iruan and Arangha,
these evil forests is where bad people in the community
are sent to go and die. If you are a witch or a wizard and
have caused havoc in the community, or one dies in an
accident such as auto crash or from a tree or palm tree,
such people or corpse are taken to this forest. While this
is so, the number of wild beast that lives within this area
is awesome. No human activity of any kind is carried out
here as it is belief that the spirit from there will not take it
kindly with anybody disturbing the peace of the dead or
the spirits themselves. Some of these evil forests are the
burial ground for the royals of the community. In Biase,
there is also a burial ground for slaves, nobody wants to
be associated with slaves, so the area remain a very
thick forest since it is believed that the last slave buried
there was before the stopping of slave trade in Nigeria. In
Yache, there is also a sacred grove where the remains of
the ancestral fathers of the Wonye people were buried
hundreds of years before now, no farming, felling of trees
or harvesting of vegetables is done here. In Aliforkpa,
also in Yache in Yala LGA, there is also a pond which
nobody goes near there, here crocodile, iguana and
some wild sea animals are found here. Anyone one that
strays to this pond is eaten by the wild beast there, but
the community believes that the person would be killed
by the spirit. In most communities in Cross River State,
some children given birth to are said to animals. The
belief system is that such children behave like animals, in
this situation, the juju priest carries the child and all the
properties that has been given to the child to the forest,
does some incantation and the child changes to whatever
animals the child is and leaps into the forest. This is also
forbidden from entrance except on such occasions.
In Bateriko, some part of the forest is strictly reserve
as the home of the gods, here no entrance is allowed into
this forest, even when crops are cultivated close to the
Eneji et al. 039
area, it does not give any good yield. For example,
villages in Boki, Obudu, Ikom, Akamkpa and Etung local
Government areas, authority was collectively vested in
the hands of a group of male elders and chiefs of the
communities whose words and actions were laws in
community matters and were very much respected and
obeyed.
Thus, socio-cultural governance could be described as
been gerontocratic. However, words and actions or
relationships were in the direction of conservation,
respect, good husbandry and efficient use of natural
resources. There were rules to protect trees, streams and
rivers as well as governing council who are charged with
the responsibilities of managing natural resources. For
example in Obudu, the following rules and practices were
used in villages well over 60 years ago to conserve,
manage, preserve and protect sources of drinking water:
* Felling of trees or fuel wood collection within thirty
meters radius from streams and rivers was prohibited.
This principles though unknown was meant to preserve
the watershed and vegetation, this consequently checks
the amount of evapotranspiration and allows some
amount of tolerable water temperature for both micro and
aquatic organisms to continue their ecosystem services
for the enrichment of the soil, continuous supply of water
and the healthy growth of the forest. The vegetation
cover also helped to keep the water cool and fresh for
drinking. This system protects the watershed from
destruction.
*
Location of residential settlements close to upper
course of any stream, pond or river was not approved.
This law was to check and control deforestation and
farming around the neighborhood thereby protecting the
watershed along the banks of the streams and rivers.
This also was to prevent (domestic) sewage waste from
being washed down into the streams and rivers.
*
Bathing and Washing of clothes around, near or
inside ponds, streams/river where drinking water is
fetched was not allowed.
*
Fishing or harvesting any aquatic animals within
drinking streams, pond and rivers is not allowed.
*
Cleaning up of drinking streams was the
responsibility of every member of the community and was
carried out within a specified length of time by community
members, failure to attend such clean ups and sanitation
attracts a fine of either a goat, chicken or a specified
amount of money. Sometimes this clean ups and
sanitation are done by different age grades in the
community and in turns too.
*
Silence was observed within drinking streams.
Reasons abound for this law, spanning from the respect
for the gods of the streams who protect the stream and
the organisms helping to purifying the streams and
keeping the stream alive and also control the spread of
diseases. It is believed that while speaking, an infected
person may spill or splash saliva, so an infected person
with tuberculosis or whooping cough for example may
spill infected saliva containing the bacteria into the water.
In addition this rule ensured the gods were not provoked
to anger. Their anger could result in streams or rivers
drying up.
* Fishing or catching of crabs in drinking water sources
was strictly prohibited. Fishing was only done at
designated rivers or ponds and only during the dry
season.
*
Streams apart from wells and springs that either
flowed on a level land or were shallow were deepened at
the upper source to form a natural pond or reservoir that
would withstand the dry season and ensure water
availability all year round.
The above rules and regulations are pointers to the
imminent fact that the rural communities were aware of
their environment and their collective responsibility in the
management of the watershed and water quality. The
decision to locate any village was based on the
availability of water. However, individual residential
houses were built far away from the source of drinking
water. Thus, settlement was kept at a reasonable
distance from the source of a river/stream. In time past,
some patches of grassland and forest were set aside,
normally close to settlements, as sacred lands that could
not be touched. These lands so delineated are authorized
and covered strictly by traditional /cultural laws. In most
communities and countries in Africa, such areas still
exist. The collective appellations for these areas are
commonly referred to as sacred or fetish groves, evil
forest and sacred pond. A number of sacred groves have
been destroyed as a result of Christianity infiltration and
urban and infrastructural development into rural
hinterlands, but many still survive. According to GyamfiFenteng and Abbiw (1992), EPC, (1976), Dwomoh (1990)
several categories of groves exist many are small (less
than one hectare), often housing object like trees, pond,
stone, or rock ascribed as the abodes of the god (DormAdzobu et al., 1991; Ntiamoa-Baidu et al., 1992). Such
small areas may be very significant in terms of
biodiversity conservation and management.
More commonly, the patch of forest in which the royals
of a particular village were buried was protected because
of respect for the dead and the belief that the ancestral
spirits lived there. Entry into such forests was prohibited,
and only a limited class of people (such as members of
the royal family, village elders, and clan heads and the
chief priests) were allowed access for the burial and other
sacrificial purposes. Often, patches of forests were
protected because they supported sacred objects, totem
or tabooed species that were believed to have special
spiritual or cultural values and associations. Many clans
in Cross River State in Nigeria have a wild animal or plant
species as their symbol. Traditionally, such species were
040 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
strictly protected. In some cases, even touching the
species was forbidden (Fargey, 1991; Mkenda, 2010).
Sacred groves are controlled by chief priest appointed
by traditional authority who is in charge of the abode of
such gods and who also is the messenger of the gods in
human form. The responsibility for protecting the grove is
vested in the entire community, but a selected group of
people or family normally takes the duty to enforce the
rules. The conservation strategy, which is one of
preservation, is enshrined in taboos, totems and
sacrileges and other numerous cultural and religious rites
and is maintained through reverence for the gods and
ancestral spirits. The responsibility of ensuring that the
regulations governing the grove are strictly adhered to is
rested in the descendants of the chosen chief priest with
the support of the community traditional institution. These
traditional guards regularly patrol the periphery of the
grove and arrest intruders, who are reported to the chief
priest for the necessary customary sanctions. The
sanctions, which are done for the purpose of pacifying
and purifying the gods and spirits, vary depending on the
gravity of the offense. However, they usually consist of a
cash fine, bottles of hot drinks, goats, sheep, chicken,
kola nuts and alligator pepper as sacrifice to the gods.
These sacred groves survived all these while purely
because of the strong religious / cultural beliefs held by
the local people and the spiritual, religious and cultural
attachments to the groves. The major virtue of this strong
culture-based practice is that it encourages community
participation in natural resource conservation and
sustains positive awareness of nature and the linkages
between man and nature (Tunon and Bruhn, 1994;
Tupper, 2002; Udgaonkar, 2002; Utkarsh et al., 1999).
Modern Religious Practices that is Inimical to
Environmental Resources Management
With the coming of western religion and education, man
has devised all form of weapons and means to improve
his style of life. A traditional African life on whatever is
available and he is contented with his life, but this is
never the case with the modern man as created by man’s
design and construct. With this modern man, he has the
acculturation of the western world and believes that he is
in-charge of the earth and everything so created by God.
His relationship with his environment is watered down to
depend on the environment and all that was held sacred
in time past. One may bother to ask what are the factors
that push modern man to behave the way he behaves?
Six main factors can be identified as motivating modern
man to behave the way he does, these factors:
•
Ignorance and lack of comprehension of the
limited rate of renewability of natural resources, coupled
with the fact that populations of most wild species are so
low that the current rate of exploitation is unsustainable.
•
Alienation of local communities in the
management of protected areas and the resources they
contain, which the traditional communities their ancestral
inheritance handed down to them by their ancestors.
•
Poverty (the lack of basic necessities of life and
the struggle for survival)
•
Low public awareness of general conservation
issues and regulations
•
Misunderstanding of the policies and functions of
the government conservation agencies
•
Poor public relations on the part of the
conservation officers
•
Population pressure and man’s quest to improve
his livelihoods.
These basic issues must be addressed in evolving a
sustainable protected area system acceptable to the
people. Through the revisitation of socio-cultural and
traditional religious practices and belief systems in our
rural communities. Increase pressure on reduced fertile
land area for agriculture, this has been the main source
of communal conflicts (e.g. various clans who knew their
boundaries and land cannot do this). Thus, new policies
have disempowered communities, causing a breakdown
of traditional resource management system, phenomena
which have all contributed to the degradation of
watersheds and resources depletion (Tupper, 2002;
Udgaonkar, 2002; Utkarsh et al., 1999)
One key environmental problem facing Cross River
state and indeed, Nigeria is deforestation. Which
multinationals have posed on traditional protected areas
in the forest zones as a result of increasing pressure from
the demands of agricultural land and forest products?
Illegal farming is a problem that forest has to constantly
contend with. While illegal logging of trees and harvesting
of non timber forest products (NTFPs) continues to be a
major problem in forest reserves. Wildlife populations in
all reserves are under constant threat from illegal hunting.
Illegal collection of other forest products, like chewing
sticks, poles, afang (Gnetum Africana), bitter kola,
(Garcinia kola), bush mango (Irvingia gabonensis), hot
leaves, cane, camwood (Ptheracarpus soyauxii), kola
nut, (Kola nitida or Kola accuminata) snails (Archachatina
spp) (Eneji et al., 2009a; Eneji et al., 2009b; Eneji et al.,
2009c) is also a source of regular conflict for current
forest management and local people. The sacred groves
survival is threatened by the erosion of the traditional beliefs
that have sustained the system. A number of sacred
groves have been gradually shrunken by surrounding
farms and many more have already been lost to
development projects (Environmental Protection Council,
1976; Mkenda, 2010). The breakdown of beliefs can be
attributed to western-type education and religion,
immigration of people who may have no respect for local
traditions, and the lack of modern legislation to reinforce
Eneji et al. 041
traditional rules (Eneji et al., 2009a; Eneji et al., 2009b;
Eneji et al., 2009c)
Changes in land use policy have taken control of land
and other natural resources management from the hands
of local authorities. This control gave the ancestral right
and authority of caring, protecting and managing forest
resources, land, water and other such resources located
within such lands to the state. Corrupt elements of
society have abused the main tenet of this land use act of
1979. Furthermore, the creation of forest reserves and
the Cross River National Park – to protect land for future
generations - has also removed control from traditional
authorities leaving less forests land for a growing
population. This is also noticed on the pressure put on
natural resources by the growing population in terms of
the provision of housing the population, clothing and
feeding them and providing an aesthetic environment for
the populace. The importance of forests and wildlife to
West Africans is well documented. Forest products and
wild animals provide valuable sources of income, food,
building materials, many household tools and some
therapeutic medicine (Falconer, 1992; Wilson, 1998). The
question that emerges is: Why do people continue to
destroy forests and overexploit forest resources that are
so vital to their own survival, yet remain antagonistic to a
system that seeks to conserve those resources?
These reasons have contributed immensely to the
causes of fresh water pollution, seasonal shortage of
water and seasonal floods in the rural communities of
northern Cross River State. These reasons have also
contributed to the prevalence of diseases and deaths in
the area (Evidence from health centres of waterborne
diseases i.e. diarrhea, cholera and typhoid (Eneji et al.,
2009a).
Most streams and smaller rivers like the Aya in
Bekwarra and Obudu, Abeb in Obudu, Uduo and Ulu all
in Bekwarra among others are being dam today by young
men and women, where they pour Gamalin 20 or DDT
into the water at the upper course of the stream or river,
this chemicals kill the fish by suffocating them and
bringing the dead fish to the surface of the water. This
chemical so used is harmful to man, the aquatic lives and
the water body itself. Local health and law enforcement
officials explained health and legal implications of fishing
with a poison to the villagers. But the attitude has
refused to change. This singular system alone has
striped most of the streams and river bodies bare of
fishes and other aquatic lives.
METHODOLOGY
The method of data collection and fact used in this
research is personal interview, literature review, group
discussion, and site visitation. A total of 30 communities
were purposefully selected and visited for the study. The
choice of purposeful selection is because these
communities have established religious and cultural
practices already which some literature and the tourism
initiative of the Cross River State Government have little
documentary and fairy stories told about them already,
hence the need for purposeful selection of the thirty
communities under study. The communities are located
within the following local government areas: Ikom, Etung,
Boki, Bekwarra, Obudu, Obanliku, Yala, Akamkpa and
Biase. Some traditional and cultural practices are similar,
with the same name in some communities, so there was
no need repeating the same story, so such traditions
were recorded for only one community. The findings
from the field were documented and their implication
discussed with our interviewees in the various
communities in Cross River State.
CONCLUSION
From the very on-set, the paper aims at looking at the
roles African traditional religion and socio-cultural
practices can play in the management of natural
resources. Without much complication, traditional religion
and cultural practices have contributed in the
conservation of resources through the ascription of
psychic powers to object, rock, stream, tree, forest land
etc, these ascriptions of the supreme powers and the
belief and respect for the gods of the land holds the string
to reverence and respect for these objects. This belief in
the existence of a supreme being responsible for the
protection of the communities has also enabled the
traditional African communities to voluntarily take
management of natural resources very seriously. Though
this was done without proper understanding of the role
they were playing at that material time. To them, they
needed a god to worship and for the god to protect them
and foretell them things in the future, so they were able to
consult their gods on matters affecting the communities.
With all these respects and reverence ascribed to the
gods and their abodes, exclusion from entrance into their
abode was the key concept to conservation.
But modern man has change all the perception and
belief about the environment from the beginning f
creation where he was given a fiat order to increase and
multiply and subdue the earth. Man in modern times
sees the environment as his rightful property where he
decides how it should be used, whether the process of
exploitation is sustainable or not. Like in most villages
today, people use Gamalin 20 and DDT for fishing. In
time past, traditional priests and elders in the villages
invoked indigenous beliefs in spirits of water bodies to
declare this method of fishing a taboo. The indigenous
beliefs and taboo contributed immensely and effectively
042 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
in the reduction in the incidence of fishing with chemical
in the area under study, but today, this is never the case
again as things that were held as totem and taboo are not
seen as every other thing (Appiah-Opoku, 2005; World
Conservation Union, 1994; Wilson E.O, 2002).
It will be necessary to conclude that traditional African
religion and other socio-cultural practices belief in nature,
and holds nature as a partner in this struggle for
existence. The traditional African man sees man and
nature as inseparable and closely knit together, hence
the religious and cultural practices belief on the tenet of
nature earthsmanship as propounded by Carl Ritters.
RECOMMENDATION
There should be a revisitation of some of the traditional
religious belief system and cultural practices that
encourage the conservation of natural resources for
sustainable development in Cross River State and
Nigeria as a whole.
Religious leaders (pastors, priest, imams, chief priest
etc) should preach and encourage more on the sections
of the bible that sees man existence as closely knit to the
environment and the provision of other environmental
services which man needs for his survival on earth.
Communities should be engaged in the management
of their community resources, this can be done through
community based natural resource management
approach.
There should equal involvement of all facets of the
community in matters that affects the community
resources management. Here the concept of
conservation can be brought to the fore through collective
argument and decision making.
Special aspect of conservation education using latent
process should be introduced into various age grade
meetings and systems in the rural communities.
Adequate fines should be introduced for defaulters,
especially I n communities where they still practice
traditional African religion.
Government and other conservation agencies should
encourage communities still having and practicing
traditional system of resources management, this can be
done through positive motivation and incentives like
prizes and award.
Government should involve those practicing the
traditional methods of managing natural resources into all
conservation process since they are most endowed with
traditional forest and natural resources management.
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