Project Abstract

Abstract
Rivers State, located in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, faces significant environmental challenges that threaten the state of the earth within its boundaries. The region's ecosystem is under immense pressure due to activities such as oil exploration, deforestation, urbanization, and industrialization. These activities have led to widespread pollution of rivers, destruction of forests, loss of biodiversity, and disruption of the natural balance. Oil exploration in Rivers State has been a major source of environmental degradation, with oil spills and gas flaring being common occurrences. These incidents not only contaminate water sources but also damage vegetation and wildlife, resulting in long-term ecological damage. The impact of oil pollution is further exacerbated by illegal oil refining activities, which release toxic substances into the environment, endangering the health of both humans and animals. Deforestation is another significant environmental challenge in Rivers State, driven by factors such as logging, agriculture expansion, and urban development. The clearing of forests not only reduces the region's carbon sink capacity but also contributes to soil erosion, loss of wildlife habitats, and decreased water quality. The loss of forest cover also affects the region's climate regulation, making it more vulnerable to extreme weather events and climate change. Urbanization and industrialization in Rivers State have led to increased pollution levels, waste generation, and land degradation. The rapid growth of cities and industries has resulted in the discharge of untreated effluents into water bodies, air pollution from industrial emissions, and improper waste disposal practices. These activities have negative implications for public health, water quality, and overall environmental sustainability. Addressing the environmental challenges in Rivers State requires a multi-faceted approach that involves the government, industries, communities, and civil society organizations. Implementing and enforcing environmental regulations, promoting sustainable land use practices, investing in green technologies, and raising awareness about the importance of environmental conservation are crucial steps towards mitigating the state's environmental degradation. In conclusion, the environmental challenges facing Rivers State are complex and interconnected, requiring urgent action to protect the region's ecosystems and ensure a sustainable future for its inhabitants. By addressing the root causes of environmental degradation and promoting sustainable development practices, Rivers State can safeguard its natural resources and preserve its biodiversity for future generations.

Project Overview

Environmental issues are meant to be operationalized through the formulation of actor-specific environmental actions plans, which define priority action that will convert strategy into practice. The Environmental Planning and Management (EPM) process which is an increasingly popularized cans of solving the myriads of problems afflicting the environmental in contemporary world.

The study examines the use of Environmental Planning and Management (EPM) process as a strategy of solving environmental problems in Bonny Island, Rivers State, Nigeria by investigating the perception of the general public on the state of the environment in the area, level of participation of people in compliance to existing environmental strategies, causes of ineffective environmental management in the area and assessing community satisfaction with existing environmental management approach using well structured questionnaires administered to sampled households

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Questions were related to socio-economic characteristics of households, willingness to participate by the community in the EPM process, perceived level of environmental degradation in the area, level of compliance of oil and gas companies to environmental laws and the role of Government environment protection agencies in protecting the environment of the study area.

The results confirm that the level of damage from oil exploration, gas activities, pollution and pipeline vandalizations is chronic and cumulative, which has resulted to the degradation of the environment, routine of facilities and compliancy to environmental management approaches are not regular, facilities and equipment were found be grossly inadequate therefore proper inspection can not be well carried out, the community expressed dissatisfaction with the existing environment approach which they attributed to the inability of fully implementing the environmental approach, the community indicated that given the opportunity they are willing to particimendations were made for the effective and efficient application of the EPM process in the study area.