A Systemic View of the Value of Environmental Conservation: The Case of Bono Takyiman, Ghana

Abstract

From a systemic point of view, it can be understood that the physical environment is important to every living being because it supports and protects life. The physical environment contains the ecosystem in which humans, animals and trees interact. All living organisms depend on the physical environment for survival which is why the environment must be protected. With the increase in world population, pollution, and climate change, environmental conservation has become the dominant concern of everyone: individuals, communities, nations, governments and international organisations. From time immemorial the indigenous people of Bono Takyiman in Ghana have depended on their cultural beliefs and practices to conserve the physical environment. Although the indigenous conservation approach of the Bono is based on traditions, the practice is in tandem with modern scientific methods of environmental protection. In fact the indigenous people seem to be ahead of others in environmental awareness and the general concerns of environmental degradation. Using the relevant literature and the author’s lived experience of environmental conservation, this chapter discusses two major approaches which the indigenous people of Bono Takyiman employ in protection of the physical environment. In this chapter, I set out to share with others from so-called developed and developing countries alike this indigenous orientation to saving the environment. I discuss the worthiness of the approach and I consider lessons that can be learned from it for our way of addressing the Anthropocene.