The Yoruba and Their Ecological Environment

Abstract The rainforest environment of West Africa shaped the Yoruba culture and provided the people with their world of meaning. While they share with other primal societies of the world the understanding of the unity of reality, much of its concomitant ecological values have eroded from their experience in the twenty-first century. The foundation for this loss was laid by their absorption into the worldwide European Enlightenment culture, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. Colonialism and its cultural accretions, especially secularism and material culture, instituted a rapid change in the ecological reorientation of the people. In the wake of this cultural reorientation that commodified environmental resources, Yoruba people at present do not seem to appreciate the need to preserve their ecological environment for the present and future generations. The challenge now is how to awaken them to this need and reorientate the people to appreciate the integral relationship between their comprehensive wellness and the health of their total ecological environment for the present and future generations.