The Ecological Crisis in Africa As a Challenge to Lasting Cultural and Sustainable Development

The alleged or the wrongly conceived teaching that ‘it is God’s will that human beings exploit nature for their proper ends’ has largely contributed to the present global environmental predicament. Environmentally speaking, Africa as a continent is today experiencing one epidemic after another. Poverty (material and mental), population pollution, sinful structures, economic disaster, drastic climatic changes, unequal distribution of land, ethnic conflicts, squalor and the degradation of ecosystems are among the most pressing issues undermining lasting sustainable development in Africa. This work deals with the cultural and the biblical roots of these ecological crises; ex-rays the historical development of this impasse in Africa, and finally proffers recommendations

Anthony Chiedozie Asoanya, a priest of Onitsha Archdiocese in Anambra state, was born at Kano (Nigeria) in 1958. He studied philosophy and theology in Bigard Memorial Seminary Ikot Ekpene and Enugu respectively. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in philosophy (B. Phil) in 1982, Bachelor in Divinity (BD) in 1988 from the Pontifical Urban University Rome, and a Licentiate in Environmental Ethics (Liz.) in 2000 from the Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen, Frankfurt am Main and a PhD in Catholic Social Teaching from the Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Vallendar. The author worked in St. Charles Luwanga Onitsha and as the Director of Projects in the Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA) from 1989-1995.