Spatial Dimensions of Environmental Degradation in the Coastal Areas of South West

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.