ASSESSING THE YORUBA CONSERVATION APPROACH IN ADDRESSING CONTEMPORARY ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES

Today, environmental crisis is at the forefront of global debates due to the significant harm done to the environment over the years. This crisis has caused decreased agricultural yields, water pollution, flooding, and a decline in living standards, as well as affected public health. As a result, the global community has been compelled to address these urgent issues, for if left unchecked, they could be more disastrous to human well-being. Environmentalists have argued that these consequences, being the effect of climate change, can be traced to the degradation of nature by humans. To this effect, various coping strategies and preventive measures have been proposed to raise awareness and implement solutions, but environmental degradation persists. This, however, has been argued to be a result of atop-down approach to environmental crisis, which, as a result, led to a shift towards embracing a bottom-up approach to environmental crisis. This shift has sparked an interest in indigenous knowledge systems, for it is believed that the indigenous people have a closer relationship with the environment. In this context, we propose the Yoruba conservation approach, which prioritises fear in environmental management. The goal herein is to assess its relevance and effectiveness in addressing contemporary environmental challenges. Through a conceptual analysis, critical analysis, and comparative analysis, this paper argues that the Yoruba conservative methodology, which is founded on fear, may struggle to survive in today's scientific world, where innovative solutions and societal developments are scientifically driven.