Leveraging Indigenous Knowledge for Effective Environmental Governance in West Africa

Effective environmental governance is key to achieving Sustainable Development Goals. Environmental sustainability programs in developing countries across West Africa are anchored on western scientific knowledge. This has led to a tendency to marginalize the application of indigenous knowledge in environmental protection in West Africa. Yet, no knowledge system develops in isolation as they cross-fertilize and benefit from each other. Indigenous knowledge systems are as old as the traditional societies having been passed from one generation to another. They are those voluminous, diverse, and highly localized sources of wisdom that are neither specific nor universal. Indigenous knowledge systems such as using animal dung as manure, sighting of the new moon before planting, rain-making rituals, and planting of trees to serve as shades have helped to conserve the wetlands and the forests of most societies in West Africa and are effective in promoting environmental sustainability. Hence, the reason they are considered as important as scientific knowledge which must be integrated through multiple evidence base approaches for effective environmental governance. This article using doctrinal research methodology aims at examining how traditional societies in West Africa can leverage indigenous knowledge to achieve effective environmental governance, mitigate climate change, and promote sustainable development. The article recommends that mainstreaming indigenous knowledge systems into environmental legislation, policy and institutional frameworks will not only help in mitigating environmental issues such as climate change but will help developing countries in West Africa meet the SDG goals and their commitments in the Paris Agreement. The article concludes that the integration of such unique knowledge systems into other evidence or scientific based knowledge systems could be one of the best ways to ensure effective and participatory environmental governance in West Africa.