Interrogating the Egalitarian Status of the Animate and Inanimate Forms of Nature in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Critical Analysis

The radical and excessive interference of human practices in the non-human world within sub-Saharan Africa has significantly contributed to transforming favorable environmental conditions into adverse ones. This study reveals how the importance of the ecosystem and nature has consistently been underestimated, neglected, unrecognized, and morally overlooked. It emphasizes the practical complexity of dissociating humans from the space shared with other (non-human) entities within the same environment. Indigenous African contributions to environmental ethics are critically examined for their limited engagement with the human-nature relationship in sub-Saharan Africa—identified as a principal root cause of the ongoing environmental crisis in Africa and beyond. The study argues that only in cases involving essential and unavoidable needs for survival—such as food, water, and shelter—should humans extract resources from the richness and diversity of nature. The survival of communities across the region is shown to depend substantially on both living (animate) and non-living (inanimate) entities, which possess both physical and spiritual dimensions. The study concludes by recommending remedial strategies, including the adoption of technologies, ideological reforms, and sustainable practices such as biotechnology, bioremediation, ethical leadership, and the restoration of traditional African ecological values.