Addressing Environmental Health Problems in Ogoniland through Implementation of United Nations Environment Program Recommendations: Environmental Management Strategies

Abstract

On 4 August 2011, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) submitted an unprecedented, scientific, groundbreaking environmental assessment report (EAR) on Ogoniland to the Nigerian government. This was the outcome of a 14-month intensive evaluation of the extent of pollution. The intention was that UNEP’s recommendations would be implemented to restore the devastated environment, on the one hand, and on the other, counteract the numerous environmental health issues that have for decades, plagued Ogoniland. However, five years post-EAR, and despite the seriousness of the situation, no significant resolution has occurred on the part of the government or the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) or Shell. To date, millions of Niger Delta residents particularly those living in the oil-bearing communities, continue to suffer severe consequences. Although the assessment was conducted in Ogoniland, other communities in the Niger Delta are also affected. This article explores prevailing issues in the Niger Delta, using Ogoniland (a microcosm of the Niger Delta) as an example. A multidisciplinary approach for sustainable mitigation of environmental health risks in the Niger Delta is paramount, and environmental management tools offer valuable strategies. Adopting the UNEP’s recommendations for addressing environmental health problems requires implementing the environmental management/environmental management system (EM/EMS) model. However, the persistent lack of political will on the part of the Nigerian government, and the grossly nonchalant attitude by Shell remain major obstacles towards executing UNEP’s recommendations.

Petroleum Hydrocarbons Contamination of Surface Water and Groundwater in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

“…Consequently, the UNEP recommended immediate provision of clean drinking water for the residents [84], medical surveillance, and a prospective cohort study. Although the Nigerian government has provided emergency drinking water [9], other UNEP's recommendations have not been fully implemented due to the lack of political will on the part of the Nigerian government and the nonchalant attitude by SPDC [8]. Recently, the Federal Government of Nigeria has put in place financial and legislative framework in order to begin implementation of the recommendations made by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) [41].…”

“…It is known that discharged petroleum hydrocarbons often sink into groundwater and the process of remediation of polluted groundwater can take many years [8,92]. In a study, Omo-Irabor et al [67] investigated the natural and anthropogenic processes that influence the chemistry of surface water and groundwater within the western Niger Delta region using multivariate statistical techniques.…”

“…According to Ite et al [5], effective management and remediation of petroleum hydrocarbons contaminated land are essential for effective risks mitigation and significant risks that are not currently controlled in the case of petroleum hydrocarbons contaminated land in Ogoni community need to be properly mitigated to avoid long-term human health effects. In practice, adoption of the UNEP's recommendations for addressing environmental health problems requires implementation of effective environmental management strategies and/or environmental management system models [8].…”

“…The unsustainable activities of petroleum industries in the oil-rich region like the Niger Delta region reflect the inadequate effective statutory laws and regulations as well as lack of regulatory enforcements for environmental protection [1,11,19,40,54,55,56]. As such, the exploration and production activities of the petroleum industry have resulted in severe negative impacts on the Niger Delta region and its people over the past decades [1,4,5,6,7,8,17,21,28,57]. Some specific major disasters include the death of 180 people as a result of the extensive 1980 Texaco spill that contaminated streams which served as drinking water sources, and those that have killed children, leading to the hospitalization of more than one hundred residents due to the consumption of petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated water [58].…”

“…According to Ite et al [5], the inadvertent discharges of petroleum hydrocarbons and chemical-derived waste streams associated with petroleum exploration and production have caused environmental pollution, adverse environmental and/or human health problems, negative impacts on the terrestrial ecosystems, detrimental impacts on regional economy, socio-economic problems and degradation of oil producing host communities in the Niger Delta region. Some of the consequences associated with the inadvertent release of petroleum hydrocarbons into the environment are as follows: (i) atmospheric pollution associated with natural gas flaring and venting which may contribute to global climate change [4,11,12]; (ii) pollution of marine ecosystem which may result in adverse impacts on wildlife and negative impact on tourism, fishing and other related businesses; (iii) pollution of soil and controlled water sources (surface and ground water) [1,7,8,[13][14][15][16][17], (iv) socio-economic problems and deterioration of our cultural heritage items in the impacted oil producing host communities in the region [1,5,6,18,19,20,21], and (v) contaminated land, food quality issues and reduction in agricultural produce [8,22,23,24].…”