APQ - APPON PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY

Africa faces an urgent environmental crisis, including water scarcity, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and climate-related health problems. These challenges are scientific and policy issues; they are also deeply philosophical, raising questions about the human relationship with nature, knowledge, and responsibility. Western environmental approaches, shaped by human-centered and dualistic thinking, often fail to respond to Africa’s communal, spiritual, and relational ways of life. This paper aims to examine how ‘Igwebuike’, an Igbo philosophical framework, provides a de-colonial and relational approaches to environmental ethics in Africa. Guided by the principles of relationality, unity, hierarchy, and complementarity, ‘Igwebuike’ treats both human and the environment as interconnected as well as morally bound to each other. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative philosophical approach, employing conceptual, hermeneutic, and comparative analyses of relevant texts. It offers a systematic and experience-based structure for ethical environmental action and sustainable living. Theoretically, the study is grounded in Igwebuike philosophy within a de-colonial framework, which challenges Western epistemological dominance while affirming indigenous knowledge systems. By placing Igwebuike in dialogue with de-colonial thought, this study unveils its potential to inform ecological ethics, restore relational knowledge, and challenge extractive environmental practices.

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