THE POLITICS OF BIODIVERSITY AND PUBLIC HEALTH IN AFRICA: A PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF POLICIES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS
The relationship between biodiversity and public health in Africa has become increasingly important in the context of environmental degradation, climate change, ecological insecurity and persistent health challenges. Yet policies relating to land use, forestry, mining, agriculture, urbanisation, waste management and disease prevention are often formulated within separate institutional structures, with insufficient attention to their ecological interdependence. This paper examines the political and philosophical assumptions underlying biodiversity and public health policies in Africa, with particular attention to Nigeria. It argues that the problem is not merely administrative or technical but also ethical and philosophical, because policy decisions reflect particular conceptions of nature, development, justice, responsibility and the common good. The study employs conceptual analysis and hermeneutics. Conceptual analysis clarifies the relationships among politics, biodiversity, public health, policy and justice, while hermeneutics facilitates the interpretation of the socio-cultural and philosophical assumptions embedded in environmental governance. The paper further brings African philosophical perspectives into conversation with environmental ethics through the ideas of Kwame Gyekye, Kwasi Wiredu, Ikechukwu Anthony Kanu and Pantaleon Iroegbu. Their emphasis on community, responsibility, consensus, complementarity and relationality provides resources for rethinking biodiversity governance beyond purely instrumental approaches to nature. The Nigerian experience demonstrates that weak implementation, institutional fragmentation and unequal distribution of environmental burdens can undermine both ecological integrity and public health. The paper concludes that effective biodiversity governance in Africa requires an integrated ethical framework that combines ecological responsibility, environmental justice, community participation, indigenous ecological knowledge and human well-being.
Keywords: Biodiversity Politics, Public Health Policy, Environmental Justice, African Philosophy, Ecological Justice, Nigeria.