Global Warming in Nigeria
Global Warming Batters Nigerian Ecosystems - 4/23/08
Nigeria has a variety of ecosystems, from mangroves and rainforests on the Atlantic coast in the south to the savannah in the north bordering the Sahara. Whether dry or wet, those ecosystems are being battered by global warming. While excessive flooding during the past decade has hurt farming in coastal communities, desertification is ravaging the Sahel.
Rainfall in the Sahel has been declining steadily since the 1960’s. The result has been the loss of farmlands and conflicts between farmers and herdsmen over ever decreasing land. Many different communities, including fishermen, farmers and herdsmen, are now confronted with difficulties arising from climatic changes. Peoples' livelihoods are being harmed, and people who are already poor are becoming even more impoverished.
Nigeria is not a major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions when compared with industrialized countries, but it is a major supplier of oil and gas to countries with high greenhouse gas emissions. The exploitation of gas and oil for export from the Niger Delta contributes to global warming, damages the environment and hurts communities living near these projects.
Oil fields in Nigeria’s Niger Delta contain crude oil mixed with very large amounts of gas. Major oil companies operating there separate the oil from its associated gas at flow stations, where the gas is simply burned off, serving no useful purpose and contaminating the air and lands of local communities.
Global Warming Batters Nigerian Ecosystems - 4/23/08
Nigeria has a variety of ecosystems, from mangroves and rainforests on the Atlantic coast in the south to the savannah in the north bordering the Sahara. Whether dry or wet, those ecosystems are being battered by global warming. While excessive flooding during the past decade has hurt farming in coastal communities, desertification is ravaging the Sahel.
While excessive flooding during the past decade has hurt farming in coastal communities, desertification is ravaging the Sahel. Traditionally, desertification in the Sahel has been blamed on overgrazing practices of the local population. But it has been discovered that the real problem is climate change. Rainfall in the Sahel has been declining steadily since the 1960’s.
The result has been the loss of farmlands and conflicts between farmers and herdsmen over ever decreasing land. Many different communities, including fishermen, farmers and herdsmen, are now confronted with difficulties arising from climatic changes. Peoples’ livelihoods are being harmed, and people who are already poor are becoming even more impoverished. Climate refugees are being created, as the changes make some land unlivable and affect water supplies.
Nigeria is not a major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions when compared with industrialized countries, but it is a major supplier of oil and gas to countries with high greenhouse gas emissions. The exploitation of gas and oil for export from the Niger Delta contributes to global warming, damages the environment and hurts communities living near these projects.
Oil fields in Nigeria’s Niger Delta contain crude oil mixed with very large amounts of gas. Major oil companies operating there separate the oil from its associated gas at flow stations, where the gas is simply burned off, serving no useful purpose and contaminating the air and lands of local communities.
Africa Underwater: Nigeria's Coastline is Besieged by Global Warming Currents - 4/1/02
New research is sounding the alarm, predicting that climate-related sea level rise is likely to put 80 percent of Nigeria's coastline at risk of being swept away by the surging waves of the Atlantic Ocean.
In a research study entitled, "Perception and Reality: Assessing Priorities for Sustainable Development in the Niger Delta," two European scientists, David Moffat and Olof Linden, wrote that the coastline is in danger of being washed away because of its low elevation. Moffat is a World Bank environmental consultant, and Linden is a marine eco-toxicologist with Stockholm University in Sweden.
The most threatened coastline in Nigeria is on Victoria Island off the Lagos coast, where many of the country's wealthiest people live. The island is home to about $12 billion of the choicest real estate in the country.
Although coastal erosion has been a perennial problem for the island, which only became habitable after its marshland was drained in the 1930s and 1940s, it has assumed a worrisome dimension in recent times.
As the Atlantic Ocean rises, according to the Nigerian study, between 600,000 and 1.5 million people on the island and adjoining areas could be displaced. Some bridges in the area are already in danger of collapse due to erosion, says Professor Benjamin Akpati, former director of NIOMR.
