Biodiversity Conservation in Nigeria: Contrasting an Anthropocentric and a Deep Ecology Perspective

This chapter focuses on biodiversity conservation in Nigeria, one of the most populous countries in Africa, with rapidly declining biodiversity and a high rate of plant and animal extinction. Traditional conservation projects seem insufficient in countering biodiversity loss because they rarely involve local communities as active stakeholders. The lack of progress in conservation efforts can be attributed to various pragmatic constraints. One such constraint is the challenge of striking a balance between the economic needs of a growing population and environmental protection. An additional factor hindering progress is anthropocentrism, which considers human needs as primary. Arguably, this view tends to dominate the mindset of developed industrial societies. Historically, indigenous ecocentric views perceived humans as part of nature and not above it, and some animist beliefs and indigenous cosmologies are akin to “deep ecology” and “land ethics”. However, increasingly, anthropocentrism seems to influence community beliefs worldwide, resulting in further impediments to conservation efforts and endeavours. To explore the African belief systems and cosmologies about conservation, particularly the perception of the local communities on the concept of the “Half-Earth” vision, we share the findings of a field study conducted in eight communities around Yankari Game Reserve (YGR) in Nigeria. We further explored the perception of some YGR Rangers, to evaluate their understanding regarding options for improving biodiversity conservation and consider how their “religious/spiritual tenets” have impacted their services over the years. Based on this research in the context of community beliefs about conservation in Nigeria, the motivation for staff rendering conservation services, as well as the barriers and opportunities for inclusive biodiversity conservation are examined. Our findings indicate a complex cosmology, whereby some views follow functionalist, utilitarian, and extractivist logic about biodiversity, while other views reject anthropocentrism and support alternative forms of interaction with nature. Furthermore, our findings reveal the level of commitment and dedication to biodiversity conservation represented by the length of Rangers’ employment and their willingness to offer unpaid voluntary services at the Game Reserve when necessary. The result from the Rangers’ interviews also has economic implications as it relates to how better remuneration could impact effective biodiversity and wildlife conservation. However, we also note that economic motivation is not traditional within African philosophy and represents shallow, not deep ecology.