Michael Owusu

Natural resources in Ghana had been devasted for some years now due to mismanagement of certain rules and regulations laid by our forefathers as a result of rapid cultural change, population explosion etc. There has been indiscriminate logging, annual bushfires, illegal surface mining, bad farming practices, dumping of human and industrial wastes into our water bodies etc. It is estimated that over 40 percent of Ghana’s forest has been logged since the late 1940s. All efforts to salvage the situation over the years have failed to yield the needed results. The purpose of this study was to identify how taboo systems and rituals have been a simple traditional technology for resource management in some communities in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Using primary and secondary data sources, it was observed that the communities have served as classic examples of successful traditional natural resource conservation and management through taboos and rituals. Therefore, we recommend for a holistic approach involving the government through the Ghana Tourism Authority and civil society organizations, as well as religious leaders to encourage people to apply by-laws and other traditional beliefs medium that link human existence to the natural environment.