Ympäristöterveys ja paikallinen riskihavainto : laadullisessa vertailussa maaseutu ja urbaani elinympäristö Nigeriassa

In international development discourse more emphasis has been given to locality during recent years. Local dwellers and stakeholders should be more wholly involved in the environmental protection programmes based on the principles of sustainable development. Rising from Douglas’s theory of risks (1985) as a result of cultural and social negotiation process, the paper focuses on the process of the formulation of an environmental health risk. This is based on a community development risk cycle (ref. Clausen 1989). The qualitative data is from the fieldwork periods (1998, 1999 and 2001) to rural communities of Ile-Ife region, and an urban shantytown of Lagos, Nigeria, among the Yoruba ethnic group. Results highlight the importance of community involvement including sub-communities of different stakeholders instead of individual approach, in order to increase environmental activity at the local level and in the larger frames of development.