Volume 6, Issue 6, June – 2021 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology ISSN No:-2456-2165 A Study of Sibu Oromo Environmental Ethic Abdi Kitesa Keno Department of Civics and Ethical Studies College of Social Sciences and Humanities Wollega University Abstract:- This article examines Sibu Oromo whom or to what human beings have responsibilities? How environmental ethic and investigates Sibu Oromo are these responsibilities justified (Desjardins, 2013). attitudes towards the environment. This study relies on literature review, interviews and personal observation. Environmental ethics emerged as a new sub-discipline Data collected through both primary and secondary of philosophy in Western philosophy in the mid-1970s in sources indicated that the Sibu Oromo attitudes towards response to an environmental crisis that occurred in the the environment have been mainly challenged by foreign 1960s because of different reasons, such as air and river religions and degeneration of Waqeffannaa and Gadaa pollution particularly in big cities, soil erosion, depletion of system. Being influenced by these factors, Sibu Oromo natural resources at an alarming rate and population growth have been caught in dilemma: the old world and new (Callicot, 1984; Rolston, 2012; Callicot and Nilson, 2003). world. Revitalization of Gadaa system in general and Waaqeffannaa in specific is a necessary condition for the Moreover, the term environmental ethics is used to promotion of interconnectedness and interrelatedness imply the ethical assumptions of philosophical visions of between human beings, non-human beings and the sages who have their own independent views, and values of natural environment. indigenous peoples. In this work, environmental ethic is used to mean the set of values and beliefs of an individual or Keywords:- Ayyaana, Gadaa System, Safuu, Sibu Oromo, group of people relating to the environment. Waaqeffannaa In this world, in one way or another everything is I. INTRODUCTION interdependent. According to Leopold (1998), the energy absorbed from the sun by plants flows through a circuit Some people argue that there is no such thing as the known as the biota. The biota pyramid is divided into environment. In other words, a singular conception of different layers. Soil exists at the bottom of the layers. The environment does not exist. The term environment in its plants layer depends on the soil, the insect layer on the basic sense is ambiguous because it would always be plants, and both bird and rodent layers on the insects. This possible to ask ‘whose environment?’ In general, the term continues to the top of the layer, which is comprised of the ‘environment’ refers to a variety of places, processes and larger carnivores. This logic of interdependency for food objects that matter, for good or bad, to particular beings and and other services is called food chain. Similarly, Evans communities, for example, forests, cities, seas, weather, (2005) claims that our being as organic form of life requires houses, marshlands, beaches, mountains, quarries, gardens, that we participate in food chains; our being as moral agent roads and rubbish heaps (O’Neill et al., 2008). requires that we ask how we can participate with respect for both those chains and the individuals that make them up Environments and their constituents matter to us in including ourselves. various ways. First, we live from them because they sustain our existence. Second, we live in them and they serve as the In the world, moral restraints are devised in different homes and familiar places in which everyday life takes place ways. For instance, in the Western cultures moral and includes both personal and social histories. Third, we orientations are created as behavioral rules, perceptions and live with them; our lives take place against the backdrop of a standards. In non-Western cultures, such perameters are natural world that has existed before us and will continue to formulated as behavioral expectations, customs, taboos, rites exist beyond the life of the last human being, a world that or embedded in myth, story and legend (Chemhuru and we enter and for which awe and wonder are appropriate Masaka, 2010). For example, the Shona people, the largest responses (Ibid). Thus, to live from, in and with the ethnic group in Zimbabwe, practice taboos which forbid environment requires some guiding principle which leads indefensible use of plant species, forests, mountains, rivers, our actions. pools and nonhuman animals, inter alia ecological species in the ecosystem (Ibid). Environmental ethics is a systematic study of human beings’ moral relations to natural environment. It assumes Over and over again African attitude towards the that ethical norms can govern human action towards the environment has been categorized as anthropocentric. natural world. Hence, a theory of environmental ethics has However, Behrens (2014) argues that this anthropocentric to deal with questions such as: What are these norms? To worldview does not wholly reflect African views of the environment, for there is a strong emphasis on the IJISRT21JUN951 www.ijisrt.com 1204 Volume 6, Issue 6, June – 2021 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology ISSN No:-2456-2165 interrelatedness or interconnectedness of human beings and Guduru Landscape, Northwestern Oromia, Ethiopia.” In his the rest of creatures. In connection with this point, Ifeakor article, he tries to show the role of Oromo indigenous (2017) also argues an African culture is holistic in nature. It knowledge systems in protecting natural forests by focusing is seen in their maxims that everything is interdependent and on the Odaa Bulluq sacred forest and the associated interlinked. Thus, they do care for both humans and non- indigenous belief systems of the Horro Guduru Oromo. humans because God intends them to do so. Furthermore, Gemetchu (2005) indirectly elaborates on the works of Lambert Bartels which laid the foundation for Similarly, Tangawa (2004) writes before colonization, understanding Oromo attitudes towards everything. traditional African worldview considered as eco-bio- communitarian which supports smooth relations among Another relevant article is “Aloof Alollaa: The inside environmental entities. For centuries, their ways of life are and The Outside; Boran Oromo Environmental Law and guided by ethics, religion and metaphysical notions. On the Methods of Conservation” by Kassam and Gemetchu (1994) contrary, Western viewpoint explained as human-centered tried to show the law that maintains balance between nature and individualistic. and culture. Since human beings are entirely dependent on nature for survival, Kassam and Gemetchu argue that there Looking at Oromo worldview specifically, these is no culture without nature. For Oromo, everything is interconnectedness and interrelatedness can be observed interwoven and shares the same divine origin (Kassam and when the concepts of distance and respect [(safuu)] are Gemetchu, 1994). violated (Kassam and Gemetchu, 1994). From the aforementioned studies, it is possible to According to Workineh (2014) Oromo people, the grasp that the vast majority of research on indigenous and most populous ethnic group in Ethiopia perceived Waaqa modern environmental ethics, Oromo indigenous knowledge (God), Lafa (Earth) and other environmental constituents are systems in protecting natural forests, Oromo attitudes interwoven. These relationships are guided by an ethical towards the environment and Borana Oromo Environmental principle called safuu. This very principle also rules how to law and methods of conservation have already been studied. use natural resources. However, it is believed that much more research needs From the above quotation it can be inferred that to be conducted to understand Oromo attitudes towards the smooth relationships exist among the Oromo people and in environment in general and of the Sibu Oromo in particular. turn enhances the existence of everything. In this regard, I Also, it is identified that an Oromo attitude towards the argue in line with Workineh that Oromo attitudes towards environment is not yet fully studied. Moreover, since the different things are mainly influenced by Waaqeffannaa Oromia covers the largest part of Ethiopia, the perspectives and Gadaa system rituals which in turn contribute to a of Oromo people may vary accordingly. Therefore, this positive relationship between various things. In connection study aims to cover this knowledge gap by investigating with this point, Workineh (2010) elaborates the values in Sibu Oromo environmental ethic. Waaqeffannaa and Gadaa rituals influence attitudes towards different species. Waaqa is one and also has multiple II. MATERIALS AND METHODS attributes. Ayyaana reconciles the connection among Waaqa and human beings. The harmonious relationship between Even though the quantitative research is equally Waaqa and Earth has positive influences others. important, in this study qualitative research method is employed assuming that it provides the most appropriate This article is based on the works of Behrens (2014), way of investigating the research questions in detail. Since Ifeakor (2017), Workineh (2005, 2014), Chemhuru and the purpose is to describe the phenomenon from the Masaka (2010), Bujo (2009) and Fayemi (2016). All these perspectives of Sibu Oromo, the qualitative method allows authors believe that there is a connection between the whole me to capture exhaustive information relevant