Ecological solidarity and sustainable development in Africa

Abstract

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Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own ... This will happen if we see the need to revive our sense of belonging to a larger family of life (Maathai, 2010). According to John Paul II, the “threat of ecological breakdown is teaching us the extent to which greed and selfishness - both individual and collective - are contrary to the order of creation, an order which is characterized by mutual interdependence.”(John Paul II, 1990). We have clearly shown in previous chapters that human beings are the authors as well as victims of the ecological crisis. If they are part of the problem, they must also be part of to the solution. “No one can face life in isolation. We need a community that supports and helps us, in which we can help one another to keep looking ahead” (Francis, 2020, No. 7). We shall discuss the ecological solidarity framework as a new paradigm vis a vis our responsibility towards each other as human beings and the ecosystem at large. The African cultural worldview would be a useful guide in the search for a sustainable development. In the final analysis, ecological solidarity outlines two moral issues which are essential to sustainable development: firstly, an ecological awareness that recognises the interconnectedness of human life and other forms of life in the ecosystem. And secondly, an obligation to be responsible for other human beings and the ecosystem (Azetsop, S.J. and Conversi, eds., 2022).