Spatial Dimensions of Environmental Degradation in the Coastal Areas of South West
Joy Oluwatomi Jiboye 1 * , Christopher Ogolo Ikporukpo 2, Charles Olufisayo Olatubara 2
More Detail
1 Pan African University, Institute of Life and Earth Sciences (PAULESI), University of Ibadan, Ibadan, NIGERIA2 University of Ibadan, Ibadan, NIGERIA* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Environmental degradation is an increasing problem in many parts of the world and the type of ecology prevalent in an area is a major factor that determines the extent to which the area should be degraded. This study examined spatial dimension of environmental degradation prevalent in the coastal areas of south west, Nigeria. It also puts into consideration the level of severity of the environmental problems and the various ecological zones in which the surveyed communities in the study area are located. Environmental degradation is the major concept in this study and the DPSIR framework was used in understanding the concept. Mixed-method approaches, involving qualitative and quantitative methodology for data collection were used. The main techniques for primary data collection were questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was administered proportionally to 1,782 respondents who are coastal dwellers that are involved in different economic activities within the coastal areas. Both descriptive (such as frequencies, percentages, charts) and inferential (One-away Analysis of Variance and Person correlation) statistics were used for data analysis as well as cartographic analysis (map). Result shows that there is a significant variation in the spatial dynamics of environmental degradation across the sampled settlements (p<0.05). Flooding was ranked as the most severe environmental problem by larger percentages of respondents in strand ecological zone (67.0%), in deltaic swamp ecological zone (52.0%) and in mangrove ecological zone (54%). The study concludes that flooding, water hyacinth invasion and pollution which include both sewage pollution in water bodies and open refuse dumping in drainages and along road sides was reported are the most common environmental problems reported by most of the communities, whereas flooding is the most severe environmental problem that cut across the study area. Therefore, the study recommends that, rigorous community efforts are needed to provide leadership and modalities for the management of environmental challenges such as flooding in coastal communities.

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EUR J SUSTAIN DEV RES, 2019, Volume 3, Issue 3, Article No: em0088

https://doi.org/10.20897/ejosdr/3973

Publication date: 21 Mar 2019

Online publication date: 14 Dec 2018

Article Views: 2486

Article Downloads: 1932

Open Access HTML Content References How to cite this article