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Influence of Indigenous Spiritual Beliefs in Natural Resources Management and Climate Change Mitigation and Among the Yorùbás in Nigeria

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Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Governance

Part of the book series: Sustainable Development Goals Series ((SDGS))

Abstract

Globally, climate change partly stems from anthropogenic activities during the pursuit of a livelihood, disrupting the natural ecosystem. Thus, threats posed by climate change have attracted empirical searchlights. Although consensus exists on the physical impacts of climate change and necessity for mitigation, there is a dearth of knowledge regarding indigenous strategies of mitigation. This chapter contributes to existing scholarly literature by analytically exploring how indigenous spiritual beliefs and practices among the Yorùbás of Nigeria facilitate ecological conservation and climate change mitigation. Primary data were obtained qualitatively from Indigenous Yorùbá people in Iba and Ore communities in Osun State, as well as Kisi and Sepeteri communities in Oyo State. Results revealed that the widespread use of taboos among the Yorùbás, such as not harvesting fuelwood from forests believed to be the home of spiritual deities, and the prohibition of indiscriminate access to conservation areas protect natural resources from unsustainable harvesting, thereby facilitating climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration. These findings suggest that there is a need to consider how place-based indigenous spiritual beliefs influence climate change mitigation and to develop policies to help fortify such practices to facilitate the actualisation of the thirteenth sustainable development goal (SDG 13).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Osun State University, Osogbo, Nigeria

    Musediq Olufemi Lawal, Oluwagbemiga Oluwaseun Ajayi & Adebayo Emmanuel Akinyemi

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

    Adebayo Emmanuel Akinyemi

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  1. Musediq Olufemi Lawal
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  2. Oluwagbemiga Oluwaseun Ajayi
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  3. Adebayo Emmanuel Akinyemi
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Correspondence to Musediq Olufemi Lawal .

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  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Eromose E. Ebhuoma

  2. Clabash Building, Office 123, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Llewellyn Leonard

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Lawal, M.O., Ajayi, O.O., Akinyemi, A.E. (2022). Influence of Indigenous Spiritual Beliefs in Natural Resources Management and Climate Change Mitigation and Among the Yorùbás in Nigeria. In: Ebhuoma, E.E., Leonard, L. (eds) Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Governance. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99411-2_4

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