THE STATE OF THE EARTH: ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Our focus in this chapter is to critically examine relevant literature that would assist in explaining the research problem and furthermore recognize the efforts of scholars who had previously contributed immensely to similar research. The chapter intends to deepen the understanding of the study and close the perceived gaps.

2.2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Environmental Degradation

The environment is something we are very familiar with. It’s everything that makes up our surroundings and affects our ability to live on the earth. Environmental degradation is a very serious problem worldwide which covers a variety of issues including pollution, biodiversity loss, and animal extinction, deforestation and desertification, global warming, and a lot more (Brown et al., 1987; Tian et al., 2004). The environmental degradation is deterioration of the environmental through depletion of resources which includes all the biotic and abiotic element that form our surrounding that is air, water, soil, plant, animals, and all other living and non-living element of the planet of earth (Bourque et al., 2005; Malcolm and Pitelka, 2000). Environmental degradation is also having a useful aspect, more new genes have been created, and some species have grown as someones have declined. For natural selection, species are constantly regenerating as the environment changes, and human activity is the main driver's power. Human is also a product of nature; this shift is to natural replacement. Most of the people about three-fourths of its population depends directly for their livelihood on activities based on natural resource and the remainder of the population relies on these resources directly for food, fuel, industrial output, and recreation (Raven et al., 1998). Most of the natural resources including the environment in India are in a serious state of degradation. The use of agriculture fertilizer is a major factor for the degradation of soil quality, soil erosion, salinity and general loss of fertility of agricultural land as well as the loss of the production of the quality crop. Similarly, groundwater aquifers are overexploited in many arid and semi-arid areas, surface water sources are highly polluted and consequently, water for drinking and irrigation is increasingly getting scarce and polluted. Fishery yields are declining, and air quality is deteriorating. Increasing levels of air, water, and land pollution pose a serious threat to human health and longevity (Malik et al., 2014; Malik et al., 2018; Yadav et al., 2019). Good environmental management is essential for economic growth and development. It is not a sometime mistakenly asserted just a luxury for wealthy countries concerned with aesthetics. Climate change and environmental degradation affect all types of development projects in all countries. If the development agencies are seriously contributing to the reduction of poverty in the communities in which they work, they must give consideration to the climatic and environmental hazards which impact their projects. Climate change and environmental degradation are proceeding rapidly and are already affecting many communities in developing countries. O’Neill L. (2010) reported that slowing population growth could provide 16-29% of the emissions reductions, and suggested to be necessary by 2050 to avoid dangerous climate change. His study in 35 countries suggested that, slowed population growth could save 1.4 to 2.5 billion tons of carbon emissions per year by 2050, certainly help to solve the climatic problem.

Causes of environmental degradation

The major factor of environmental degradation is human (modern urbanization, industrialization, overpopulation growth, deforestation, etc.) and natural (flood, typhoons, droughts, rising temperatures, fires, etc.) cause. Environmental pollution refers to the degradation of the quality and quantity of natural resources. Different kinds of human activities are the main reasons for environmental degradation. The automobile and industries increase the number of poisonous gases like SOx, NOx, CO, and smoke in the atmosphere. Unplanned urbanization and industrialization have caused water, air, soil, and sound pollution. Industrialization, urbanization, and sewage waste help to increase pollution of the sources of water (Olorode et al., 2015). Similarly, the smoke emitted by vehicles and industries like Chlorofluorocarbon, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, and other dust particles pollutes the air. The following are the causes of environmental degradation:

Land degradation

Land degradation is a worldwide problem. land degradation may occur naturally as well as man made activities. The climate change majorly combined with human activities for continuous soil degradation. Wilcox et al. (2003), Vanacker et al. (2014), Maurya and Malik (2016a), noted that surface soil disturbances can modify surface topographical features and the vegetation patch structure (Mohr et al., 2013; Malik and Maurya, 2015). The deforestation, desalination, waterlogging desertification, wasteland and soil erosion. FAO estimated that about 2 billion people (or ¾ of the population of developing countries at that time) depended on biomass for their daily energy consumption (Kumar et al., 2020)

Pollution

Air pollution refers to the release of harmful contaminants (chemicals, toxic gases, particulates, biological molecules, etc.) into the earth’s atmosphere. These contaminants are quite detrimental, and in some cases, pose serious health issues. Water pollution is said to occur when toxic pollutants and particulate matter are introduced into water bodies such as lakes, rivers, and seas. These contaminants are generally introduced by human activities like improper sewage treatment and oil spills. Pollution is a very serious worldwide problem, pollution resulted in the deterioration of the quality of natural biotic and abiotic factors (Rahman et al., 2017; Cheng et al., 2016). Water pollution is a very big problem especially in developing countries in the world. The water covered about 71% of the total earth’s surface and groundwater. The groundwater scarcity is especially in the developing countries of the worldwide (Karikari and Ansa, 2006). Water is one of the more demandable of all urban and rural amenities and indispensable for human activities including water for drinking and irrigation, recreational opportunities and habitat for economically important fisheries. Pollution poses a serious risk to life, especially when the water is a source of drinking and for domestic purposes for humans, polluted waters are potent agents of diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and tuberculosis. Olaniran (1995) defined water pollution to be the presence of excessive amounts of a hazard (pollutants) in water in such a way that it is no longer suitable for drinking, bathing, cooking or other uses. Pollution is the introduction of contamination into the environment. Water pollution is generally induced by humans. It results from the actions of humans carried on to a better self. These could be treated under the various activities that man engages in, which leads to pollution. The growth of the human population, industrial and agricultural practices is the major cause of pollution (Maurya and Malik, 2016a). As they respire, the decomposers use up dissolved oxygen (O2) and the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) reduces. The flora and fauna of the rivers experience change and reduction in number due to death by suffocation (Maurya and Malik, 2016b; Maurya et al., 2019). The growing problem of pollution of the river ecosystem has necessitated the monitoring of water quality. Freshwater is a finite resource, essential for agriculture, industry and even human existence, without freshwater of adequate quantity and quality, sustainable development will not be possible. Industry and automobiles are the primary and secondary contributors to air pollution worldwide (Kay, 1999); the automobiles are used every gallon of gasoline manufactured, distributed and then burned in a vehicle, produced along with carbon dioxide, carbon monoxides, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter; these emissions contribute to increased global warming (Alexander and Kanner, 1995; Mark, 1997). The environmental protection agency (EPA) estimates that industrial workers suffer up to 300,000 pesticide-related acute illnesses and injuries per year, mostly cholinergic symptoms from anticholinesterases and lung disease from airborne exposure (Hansen and Donohoe, 2002; Mellon et al., 1995). These are toxic, remain in the environment long-term, resist degradation, and can travel long distances.

Global warming

Global warming which is also referred to as climate change is the observed rise in the average temperature of the Earth's climate system the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to 1.7 °C in the lowest emissions scenario, and 2.6 to 4.8 °C in the highest emissions scenario. These readings have been recorded by the “national science academies of the major industrialized nations”. Future climate change and impacts will differ from region to region. Expected effects include an increase in global temperatures, rising sea levels, deforestation, imbalance climatic condition, changing precipitation, and expansion of deserts (Cunningham et al., 1999). Global warming has several adverse effects on human health, and agricultural production. It leads to an increase in heat-related diseases, civil conflict and decreases economic sources. Besides, it also indirectly affects human health due to the higher incidence of malaria, dengue, yellow fever and viral encephalitis caused by the expansion of mosquitoes and other disease carriers to warm areas. The adverse effect on agricultural production is due to the increased frequency of droughts, floods and hurricanes and increased incidence of pests, causing a shortage of food.

Overpopulation

It is very likely that population growth as a missing scientific agenda accounts in part for the reduced public knowledge and interest in this issue. The extent of environmental degradation varies across countries and regions of the world. Rapid population growth puts a strain on natural resources which results in degradation of our environment. The mortality rate has gone down due to better medical facilities which have resulted in increased lifespan. More population simply means more demand for food, clothes, and shelter. You need more space to grow food and provide homes to millions of people. This results in deforestation loss of biodiversity, destruction of the ecosystem which is another factor of environmental degradation.

Landfills

Landfills pollute the environment and destroy the beauty of the city. Landfills come within the city due to the large amount of waste that gets generated by households, industries, factories, and hospitals. Landfills pose a great risk to the health of the environment and the people who live there. Landfills produce a foul smell when burned and cause huge environmental degradation.

Deforestation

Forests are invaluable property of a nation because they provide raw materials to modern industries, timber for building purposes, habitats for numerous types of animals and micro-organisms. Good fertile and nutrient-rich soils having a high content of organic matter offer protection to soils by binding the soils through the network of their roots and by protecting the soils from the direct impact of falling raindrops. They encourage and increase the infiltration of rainwater and thus allow maximum recharge of groundwater resources, minimize surface run-off and hence reduce the frequency, intensity, and dimension of floods. Deforestation is the cutting down of trees to make way for more homes and industries. Rapid growth in population and urban sprawl are two of the major causes of deforestation. Apart from that, the use of forest land for agriculture, animal grazing, harvests for fuelwood and logging are some of the other causes of deforestation.

Deforestation contributes to global warming as decreased forest size puts carbon back into the environment. Deforestation gives birth to several problems encompassing environmental degradation through accelerated rate of soil erosion, increase in the sediment load of the rivers, siltation or reservoirs and river beds, increase in the frequency and dimension of Hoods and droughts, changes in the pattern of distribution of precipitation, intensification of greenhouse effects increase in the destructive force of the atmospheric storms, etc.

Natural causes

Things like avalanches, quakes, tidal waves, storms, and fires can totally crush nearby animal and plant groups to the point where they can no longer survive in those areas. This can either come to fruition through physical demolition as the result of a specific disaster or by the long-term degradation of assets by the presentation of an obtrusive foreign species to the environment. The latter frequently happens after tidal waves, when reptiles and bugs are washed ashore, of course, humans aren’t totally to blame for this whole thing. Earth itself causes ecological issues, as well. While environmental degradation is most normally connected with the things that people do, the truth of the matter is that the environment is always changing. With or without the effect of human exercises, a few biological systems degrade to the point where they can’t help the life that is supposed to live there.

Effects of environmental degradation

Impact on human health

Human health might be at the receiving end as a result of environmental degradation. Areas exposed to toxic air pollutants can cause respiratory problems like pneumonia and asthma. Millions of people are known to have died off due to the indirect effects of air pollution (Adakole and Oladimeji, 2006).

Loss of biodiversity

Biodiversity is important for maintaining the balance of the ecosystem in the form of combating pollution, restoring nutrients, protecting water sources and stabilizing climate. Deforestation, global warming, overpopulation, and pollution are a few of the major causes of loss of biodiversity. Ozone layer depletion The ozone layer is responsible for protecting the earth from harmful ultraviolet rays. The presence of chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere is causing the ozone layer to deplete. As it will deplete, it will emit harmful radiation back to the earth (Buhaug et al., 2010).

Loss for the tourism industry

The deterioration of the environment can be a huge setback for the tourism industry that relies on tourists for their daily livelihood. Environmental damage in the form of loss of green cover, loss of biodiversity, huge landfills, increased air, and water pollution can be a big turn off for most of the tourists.

Economic impact

The huge cost that a country may have to borne due to environmental degradation can have a big economic impact in terms of restoration of green cover, cleaning up of landfills and protection of endangered species. The economic impact can also be in terms of the loss of the tourism industry. As you can see, there are a lot of things that can have an effect on the environment. If we are not careful, we can contribute to the environmental degradation that is occurring all around the world. We can, however, take action to stop it and take care of the world that we live in by providing environmental education to the people which will help them pick familiarity with their surroundings that will enable to take care of environmental concerns thus making it more useful and protected for our children and other future generations.

Degradation of water resources

Microbe contamination of groundwater due to sewage outfalls and high concentration of nutrients in marine and coastal waters due to agricultural runoff are among the most serious threats (Kumar et al., 2019a). Contact with unsafe drinking or bathing water can impose serious risks (both acute and delayed) on human health. While tap water is subject to treatment and is required to meet detailed testing and purity standards, it is not always disinfected of diarrhea inducing microorganisms, as illustrated by waterborne disease outbreaks such as that caused by Cryptosporidium in Milwaukie in 1993, which affected over 400,000people. Furthermore, faecal coliforms are not prohibited in bottled water (Nation Staff, 1996), and water bottled and sold within the same state is not subject to Food and Drug Administration standards (Hammitt et al., 2006). Today 40% of waters are unfit for fishing or swimming, and levels of mercury in fish in 40 states. Clean Water Act of 1972 states to publish a list of all bodies of water that fail to meet water quality

CHALLENGES FACING OIL BONNY ISLAND AS AN OIL PRODUCING STATE

Bonny is now experiencing series of environmental damage, this is because the area is known for productive wetlands and oil deposits. The terrestrial and marine environment has being badly damaged and one of the primary cause is the oil industry and other associated industries.

Oil Exploration

Oil exploration began in 1958, little did one know that the environment would be adversely affected by its activities. Oil exploration has being a major uncontrollable source of environmental and social degradation, because of the massive oil exploration in the area which has led to a range of environmental issues such as contamination of both surface and ground water by harmful gases like Benzene, Ethyl benzene, Toluene (O’Rourke and Connolly 2003).

Gas Flaring

Gas and oil activities have caused damage to the environment, thousands of tons of waste all disposed untreated directly into the ecosystem. There has being considerable amount of gas flared which is as a result of oil and natural gas that is mixed in every oil deposit, the natural gas called “associated gas” must be removed from oil before refining (Ashton et al 1999).

Pollution

Pollution has gradually eaten into the environment because of series of oil exploration and exploitation, other related gas activities etc, which has corroded the air quality, water and land. There is a considerable amount of dredging and filling of the water ways, siltation, erosion, spills which has led to acidification of water bodies, discharge of huge amounts of production water containing significant quantities of hydrocarbons, leaks from old corroded and poorly maintained pipelines, oil in gas flares, abandoned offshore rigs, refinery effluent and toxic sludge which has in turn damaged forests and agricultural land. The reason why the inhabitants which depends on the biodiversity for their means for survival have become nuisance to the environment.

Gas flaring is simply the burning of this associated gas. Gas flaring is simply the burning of most countries of the world where gas may only occur in certain circumstances such as emergency shut downs. Due to the lack of utilized infrastructure, approximately 76% of associated gas is flared (Africa News Service 2003). Not only is the flaring damaging the environment and human health, it is also wasting huge amounts of the country’s second most valuable natural resource.

Pipeline Vadalization

Nigeria has lost over N150.5 billion to pipeline vandalization in the last eight years just as no fewer than 2,550 people have lost their lives due to fire incidents resulting from pipeline vandalism within the same period under review but the petroleum products’ pipelines vandalism took the center stage from early nineties in the Niger Delta region but the crescendo has taken an unbearable dimension as the spate Total Network of pipelines running across the length and breadth of the country carry refined and crude products to designated points. There are about 5,001 Kilometers stretch of pipelines, consisting of about 4,315 multi products pipelines to 23 depots (20 inland and 3 Refineries’ depots) and 666 Kilometers of crude oil pipelines to the four refineries. The crude pipelines originate from the off-shore terminals to supply the refineries in Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt. The pipes are buried under the ground with about 25 meters wide Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) right of way (ROW). The maintenance and security of the ROW are carried out by NNPC through the Communities. Environmental degradation was fashionably canvassed as a reason for communities to disrupt activities of the multinationals in order to call attention to the negative effects of their operations on ecology of the area. Other causes of line breaks and spills are:  Rupture due to diminished integrity and aging process of the pipes Pipelines vandalism is on the upward swing and seems to be continuing unabated. In 2000, the number of vandalized pipelines stood at 137 and 2,237 in 2005. The increase observed in the half year of 2006 was 144.88% higher than what was observed in the same period of 2005. Pipelines vandalism has continued to be more prominent in areas like port-Harcourt, Warri and Mosimi axis. In 1996, there were 33 cases of vandalized pipelines and 16 ruptures as against 1,170 within the first half of 2006. Product losses incurred through vandalism in 2000 was 397,600 Metric Tonnes or 10.121 billion Naira and 647,632 or 42.102 billion naira in 2005. In the first half of 2006, there were 2059 cases of vandalism Degradation of the environment is one of the worst disasters that have befallen the areas where pipelines have been vandalized. Raging fires have destroyed farmlands and forests thereby reducing arable land for farming. Spills into waterways destroy marine and aquatic life, flora, fauna, resort centers, pollution of drinkable water (Badejo and Nwilo). Pipeline vandalism compounds the spate of spillages from other sources and exacerbates the problems of environmental degradation and pollution of waterways.

ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

The EPM concept entered the planning dictionary or can be said to have originated in the 1960’s with the social movement and revolution, which changed the concept and discipline of physical planning. The movement originated in U.S. with the integration of social planning with physical planning. Alschuler, Brooks, Peter Marris, Howard Odum and others are among the earlier planners who propagated the concept of EPM. UNCHS defines environmental planning and management approach as the process in which it allows for interactive, participation of stakeholders in reaching a consensus an environmental issues which needs to be planned and managed. Wahab (1998:17) defines EPM as a bottom-up participatory interactive and collaborative approach to physical planning and management in which public technocrats work in concert with the organized to jointly address environmental and socio-economic issues affecting people and their environment. The UNCH/UNEP (1987) defines EPM as a continuing and dynamically evolving process whose purpose is to make development policy formulation and implementation progressively more responsive to environmental consideration. Environmental Planning and Management is according to UNCHS (1995), “ a new way of looking of and understanding development a new way of organizing our thoughts about how to mobilize resources and take action in respect of developmental issues”. The EPM process is a holistic, dynamic flexible and interactive approach to sustainable physical planning and management capable of addressing all environmental problems confronting physical planning while strengthening the local capability for better planning and management. The EPM process is adopted as a means of solve specific environmental problems it becomes imperative to integrate the procedure into the normal or routing activities of all stakeholders involved. The EPM process is also a fall not of the Agenda 21 of the united Nation to mobilize support form local actors or stakeholders in the public organized private and the popular sectors concluding the indigenous people in their guest for solving environmental issues.

2.2 THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

The Theory or Planned Behavior - TPB was first introduced in 1985 by Icek Ajzen and is a development of the Theory or Reasoned Action – TRA developed in 1975 by Fishbein and Ajzen. The purpose of the Theory or Reasoned Action – TRA is to explain human behaviour on the basis of his intention to adopt a certain behaviour. The Theory or Reasoned Action assumes that individuals behave in a rational manner in order to achieve favorable results, and to avoid disappointing others by confounding their expectations. According to this theory people’s intention to behave in a certain manner is a predecessor variable of their actual behaviour. Moreover, the intention of the individual to behave in a certain way is determined by the attitude toward that behaviour and by the subjective norms. (Hale et al., 2003).The “attitude” component is represented by individual’s beliefs which refer to behaviour’s probability to generate the desired outcomes which can be evaluated as favorable or unfavorable (Hale et al., 2003). Subjective norms represent individual's perception about the correlation between a certain type of behaviour and what reference groups are thinking about this behaviour (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). Behavioral intention is a function of attitude and subjective norms: BI = AB(W1) + SN(W2) (Hale et al., 2003, p. 260). The Theory or Reasoned Action lies behind the development of the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991).

Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was introduced by Icek Ajzen in 1985 and it further develops the Theory of Reasoned Action by adding a new variable called perceived behavioral control”. The new theory can better explain human's behaviour in specific contexts where the individual has no control over his behaviour (Ajzen, 1985; Ajzen, 1991). Perceived behavioral control refers to either the ease or the difficulty to adopt a certain behaviour, and it is determined both by past experience and anticipated impediments or obstacles (Ajzen, 1991, p. 183). The “perceived behavioural control” variable consists of the situational factors and the availability of opportunities and resources such as time, money and knowledge, which reflect the real degree of control over behaviour. If the other variables remain unchanged, the intention to behave in a certain way is the central variable that determine the actual behaviour.The Theory of Planned Behavior is used in many fields and has demonstrated its effectiveness over time in predicting actual behaviour in fields like care and health and care practices, educational behaviour, sexual behaviour, pro-environmental behaviour, the use of the Internet or in tourism (Macovei, 2015; Synodinos and Bevan-Dye, 2014). The Theory of Planned Behavior is very used in the field of pro-environmental behaviour, serving throughout time as a solid framework for many empirical researches conducted by authors like Clement, Henning & Osbaldiston, in 2014 on energy conservation behaviour, Synodinos and Behan-Dye in 2014 on green purchasing behaviour, Chan and Bishop in 2013 on recycling behaviour, Kim, Njite, and Hancer in 2013, on eco-friendly restaurants, Greaves, Stride and Zibarras in 2013, on behavioural intentions in the workplace, Han, Hsu and Sheu in 2010 on green hotel choice, Fielding, McDonald and Louis in 2008, on environmental activism.Because of the good results shown in many studies on pro-environmental behaviour, and the great prediction power of individuals’ intention to behave in a proenvironmental manner and actual pro-environmental behaviour, the Theory of Planned behaviour will be further used as the main framework for this study regarding the energy conservation behaviour.