Our African culture a vessel for environmental conservation

_____________________

OPINION

By Jacqueline Ampaire

In the New Vision of October 17, 2021, it was reported that 3,500 had been estimated to have been displaced by landslides in Bududa, the eastern Uganda district, found on the slopes of Mt Elgon.

Landslides in Bududa, Bundibugyo and the floods in Kampala and some areas of Teso have sometimes turned the natural blessings of rains into a curse that causes calamity, misery, loss of property and lives.

Benjamin Hale and others define environmental conservation as the practice aimed at preserving the environment and mitigating negative impacts associated with waste production and the consumption of non-renewable resources.

Sarah Lee, on her part, defines cultural environmental conservation as systematic cultural norms, values and practices aimed at preserving and protecting the environment. She goes on to say that natural environment and cultural practices have been intertwined throughout human history. As we face the challenges of climate change, environmental degradation, and loss of biodiversity, it is becoming increasingly clear that cultural practices play a vital role in environmental conservation.

According to Giland Njopgang, a cultural environmentalist, in Africa, a continent rich in biodiversity and cultural diversity, the relationship between culture and environmental conservation is profound and multifaceted.

Traditional ecological knowledge that long ago passed down through generations had long played a crucial role in maintaining the delicate balance between human needs and environmental sustainability.

Societies with their cultural settings had believed that gods and spirits of goodwill would protect families and all other lives, which included, though not limited to, animals and trees, against calamities and death.

Cutting down trees would attract the approval of elders. In a way, elders would strategically know which tree to eliminate without affecting the environment.

To them, the more trees they planted around their settlement, the more they attracted protection against calamities and bad omens. Elders used to “preach the gospel” about the use of having and or planting trees. These stories were told and retold to every generation.

It meant every household that sought good health, wealth and protection was motivated to plant and protect trees. They even went as far as planting fruit-bearing trees so as to make their homes attractive to young children.

It was said that once the children are happy after feeding on the fruits, it meant the gods and ancestors were equally happy, and this would be interpreted as a multiplication of blessings to the host family. Trees became a source of life, happiness and defence.

The narrative looks archaic and uncivilised, but it was psychologically designed to compel people to plant trees and to instil fear in young people not to unnecessarily cut them down. And indeed, the story told worked miracles as every household or settlement that started had trees around it.

Trees in the compound could create shelter, and the big trees in the village arena would act as village halls to host very important meetings, and as the legendary Chinua Achebe puts it, proverbs became the palm wine with which words were eaten as elders passed their wisdom to the young ones.

With our cultures being diluted by the Western influence and unregulated modernisation that has eroded the practice of collective nurturing and guiding of society, reviving our long-cherished African cultural practices becomes a realistic vessel to conserve the environment.

The rate at which we are losing green belts in urban centres, playing fields, drainage channels, the rates at which trees are cut in rural areas, without replanting others, is a case that not only policy makers and law enforcement agencies should address, but also the custodians of our culture. Cultural leaders and institutions still command a lot of respect in Uganda and therefore can influence and inspire their subjects to preserve our culture through known African traditions.

The writer works with Uganda National Cultural Centre and is an MBA Student - MUBs 2024/25