APPRAISING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE IN ENHANCING ENVIRONMENTAL LAW IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Nigeria is continuously facing a lot of environmental challenges ranging from loss of biodiversity, deforestation, desertification, bush burning, illegal logging, illegal traffic in wildlife, soil erosion to pollution of the entire environment, among others. There exists a good number of traditional knowledge (TK) within the local and indigenous communities in Nigeria that try to protect the environment from devastating challenges it is facing. There are traditional methods of biodiversity conservation, pollution control, ecosystem and natural resources management in many parts of Nigeria that attest to the fact that TK can enhance environmental law in Nigeria. However, the existing legal framework in Nigerian has failed to recognized TK as part of the legal system for environmental protection. That is why this paper attempted to discuss the importance of TK in environmental law. Adopting the doctrinal method of research, the paper found that TK is indispensable in enhancing environmental law as it provides valuable insights into local ecosystems, sustainable resource and biodiversity management and climate change control. In many local communities in Nigeria there is profound respect for natural resources guided by spiritual and ethical, which make them richer in biodiversity than other areas under the protection of conventional legal framework. This is why several international organisations recognized the importance of incorporating TK into environmental law. It is on this basis that the paper recommended that Nigerian government should integrate TK into its environmental law by inserting some elements of TK for protection of environment into the curriculum of environmental law in Nigerian universities. Although TK is faced with many challenges such as lack of formal legal framework, insufficient collaboration between stakeholders, cultural biases, difficulty of documentation, cultural and linguistic barriers to communication and collaboration, etc., the Nigerian government can overcome these challenges and recognized the importance of TK in environmental law.