Fearological Ethics: A New Approach to Sustainable Environmental Protection in Nigeria

Environmental degradation remains one of the greatest threats to sustainable development in Nigeria, manifesting in deforestation, biodiversity loss, pollution, climate change, desertification, flooding, oil spills, and the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources. Although environmental ethics has generated influential normative frameworks for ecological conservation, existing approaches have paid comparatively little attention to the motivational role of ethical consciousness in promoting responsible environmental behaviour. This article proposes fearological ethics, developed from the philosophical writings of Michael Bassey Eneyo and situated within the broader discourse of fearology and fearism, as a complementary ethical framework for sustainable environmental protection. Employing qualitative conceptual analysis and documentary research, the study critically examines fearological thought alongside major traditions in environmental ethics, including the land ethic, deep ecology, and the ethics of responsibility. It argues that ethically informed fear, understood not as panic or irrational anxiety but as reflective awareness of the consequences of environmental degradation, can cultivate precaution, accountability, ecological stewardship, and intergenerational responsibility. The article further develops practical policy recommendations for integrating fearological ethics into environmental education, governance, conservation, climate adaptation, and corporate environmental responsibility in Nigeria. It concludes that fearological ethics expands contemporary environmental ethics by offering a psychologically grounded and morally compelling framework capable of strengthening sustainable environmental governance.