Environment and Conservation Unit, Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development, Legacy Centre, Abuja Lane, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Environment and Conservation Unit, Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development, Legacy Centre, Abuja Lane, Port Harcourt, Nigeria; Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt, PMB 5323, East-West Road, Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria.
Sci Total Environ. 2018 Oct 15;639:1560-1573. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.266. Epub 2018 May 29.
The Niger Delta region of Nigeria is one of the most crude oil impacted deltas globally. The region has experienced over five decades of oil related contamination of the total environment (air, soil, water and biota). In 2011, UNEP released a seminal report on oil impact on Ogoniland environments, which up scaled demands for urgent clean up and restoration of degraded bio-resource rich environments of the Niger Delta, starting from Ogoniland. The Nigerian Government demonstrated renewed political will to remediate contaminated sites in Ogoniland with a launch of the clean-up exercise in June 2016. Stakeholders' expectations from the clean-up include not only environmental remediation but also restoration and creation of sustainable livelihood opportunities to reduce poverty in the region. Most studies have focused on the environmental restoration aspect and identified bioremediation as the likely appropriate remediation approach for Ogoniland, given its low environmental footprints, and low-cost burden on the weak and overstretched economy of Nigeria. This study mapped opportunities for sustainable livelihood creation during the Ogoniland remediation and restoration exercise. Given the value chain of bioremediation and its ancillary activities, the study analysed opportunities and mechanisms for skilled and unskilled job creation and prospects for sustainable livelihoods and knock-on effects. It is anticipated that the clean-up process would lead to economic prosperity and mitigate resource-driven conflicts in the Niger Delta. The study provides an exemplar for waste-to-wealth transformation in regions where natural resource mining has impacted communities, and has dislocated local economies and age-old livelihood structures.
尼日利亚尼日尔三角洲地区是全球受原油影响最严重的三角洲之一。该地区经历了超过五十年的石油相关的环境污染，包括空气、土壤、水和生物群落。2011 年，环境署发布了一份关于石油对奥戈尼兰环境影响的重要报告，该报告要求紧急清理和恢复尼日尔三角洲受损的生物资源丰富的环境，从奥戈尼兰开始。尼日利亚政府表现出了修复奥戈尼兰污染场地的新政治意愿，于 2016 年 6 月启动了清理工作。利益相关者对清理工作的期望不仅包括环境修复，还包括恢复和创造可持续的生计机会，以减少该地区的贫困。大多数研究都集中在环境恢复方面，并确定生物修复是奥戈尼兰可能的适当修复方法，因为它对环境的影响较小，对尼日利亚薄弱和过度紧张的经济的负担较低。本研究在奥戈尼兰修复和恢复工作期间，对可持续生计创造的机会进行了分析。鉴于生物修复的价值链及其辅助活动，该研究分析了创造熟练和非熟练工作机会以及可持续生计和连锁效应的机会和机制。预计清理过程将带来经济繁荣，并减轻尼日尔三角洲地区因资源驱动的冲突。该研究为在自然资源开采影响社区、扰乱当地经济和古老生计结构的地区实现废物向财富的转化提供了一个范例。
