Reflections on Local Knowledge and Sustainable Environmental Resources Management

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Date
1998-05-31
Authors
Uluocha, N.O
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Abstract
Environmental problems in the country are now becoming more daring than ever before. Various policies and institutions have been put in place to tackle such problems like erosion, pollution, desertification, flooding, landslide, deforestation, and so on. However, one notable missing link in the current efforts geared towards ameliorating the environmental problems besetting the nation is the failure of policy makers and implementors to integrate established local knowledge and practices of environmental resources/risk management, in dealing with life threatening environmental problems. Such a failure has meant formulating and executing environmental policies that are rather alien and hence, non workable.With practical examples, copiously drawn from a typical rural community in Igboland, the paper highlights the inevitable place of traditional values and local knowledge in the proper understanding, assessment and management of environmental resources/risk. The paper also briefly highlights some of the potential benefits of using local knowledge in handling environmental issues and concerns. A call is thus made for the generous use of local knowledge in the formulation and implementation of environmental protection policies, failure of which such policies may not be efficacious. Finally, the paper advocates the creation of a national Local Knowledge System (LKS) for the monitoring, evaluation, allocation and management of environmental resources.
Description
Conference Paper
Keywords
Environmental Resources , Environmental policies
Citation
Uluocha, N.O (1998) Reflections on Local Knowledge and Sustainable Environmental Resources Management. Paper Presented at the 41st Annual Conference of the Nigerian Geographical Association (NGA), Held at University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria