TY - JOUR
T1 - Could community science drive environmental management in Nigeria's degrading coastal Niger delta? Prospects and challenges
AU - Zabbey, N.
AU - Kpaniku, N. C.
AU - Sam, K.
AU - Nwipie, G. N.
AU - Okoro, O. E.
AU - Zabbey, F. G.
AU - Babatunde, B. B.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank CEHRD for granting permission to publish information from the local oil spill monitoring project in this form. We are grateful to the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Abuja. The embassy provided the grant with which CEHRD implemented the oil spills monitoring project. Pioneering funds (prior to 2015) for the local oil spills monitoring project came from Amnesty International and the Catholic Relief and Development Aid (CORDAID). We appreciate the comments, suggestions and direction provided by the anonymous reviewers. We are grateful to Prof. Scott Pegg (University of Indianapolis, USA) for his comments on the initial draft of the paper, which improved the content. The selfless data-gathering efforts of CEHRD local oil spill monitoring volunteers and those who participated in the Port Harcourt CNC, especially Oproama youths and University of Port Harcourt Fisheries students, are much appreciated. Bariton Lezabbey, Kenneth Odoh, Charity Laku and Josiah Egbilika led the CEHRD 2019 Port Harcourt CNC field data collection. We are also grateful to Baridapsi Nyiaghan who produced the study map.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/3/5
Y1 - 2021/3/5
N2 - The Niger Delta is the third largest wetland in the world and has Africa's largest expanse of mangroves. It is Nigeria's oil and gas hub and hot spot of biodiversity, including endemics. The region is, therefore, critically strategic for conservation of environmental quality, especially biodiversity, of the Gulf of Guinea. However, the delta's environmental integrity has been heavily impacted by numerous human activities particularly oil and gas industrialization and local livelihood resource extraction. Government agencies, educational and research institutions as well as independent researchers have not been able to study and monitor the environmental quality of the Niger Delta coast in sufficient detail. Lack of requisite human resources (technical expertise and number of personnel), gaps in sampling and analytical tools, inadequate government and non-governmental incentives, poor funding, insecurity and the remoteness of some of the coastal environments are the major challenges. The need to involve multiple stakeholders, including ordinary citizens in monitoring and reporting changes in the Niger Delta coastal land- and seascape is stressed. Leveraging on two empirical case studies, this paper discusses the prospects and challenges anticipated with the novelty of engaging community science (non-scientists) in monitoring environmental, especially biodiversity changes in the Niger Delta region. The proposed framework for engaging community science would serve, as exemplar, for similar regional context where human capital required for effective environmental monitoring is inadequate.
AB - The Niger Delta is the third largest wetland in the world and has Africa's largest expanse of mangroves. It is Nigeria's oil and gas hub and hot spot of biodiversity, including endemics. The region is, therefore, critically strategic for conservation of environmental quality, especially biodiversity, of the Gulf of Guinea. However, the delta's environmental integrity has been heavily impacted by numerous human activities particularly oil and gas industrialization and local livelihood resource extraction. Government agencies, educational and research institutions as well as independent researchers have not been able to study and monitor the environmental quality of the Niger Delta coast in sufficient detail. Lack of requisite human resources (technical expertise and number of personnel), gaps in sampling and analytical tools, inadequate government and non-governmental incentives, poor funding, insecurity and the remoteness of some of the coastal environments are the major challenges. The need to involve multiple stakeholders, including ordinary citizens in monitoring and reporting changes in the Niger Delta coastal land- and seascape is stressed. Leveraging on two empirical case studies, this paper discusses the prospects and challenges anticipated with the novelty of engaging community science (non-scientists) in monitoring environmental, especially biodiversity changes in the Niger Delta region. The proposed framework for engaging community science would serve, as exemplar, for similar regional context where human capital required for effective environmental monitoring is inadequate.
KW - Co-management
KW - Conservation outcomes
KW - Data collection
KW - Environmental degradation
KW - Monitoring
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091772312&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envdev.2020.100571
DO - 10.1016/j.envdev.2020.100571
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85091772312
SN - 2211-4645
VL - 37
JO - Environmental Development
JF - Environmental Development
M1 - 100571
ER -
