Analyzing Emerging Environmental Issues in Major Areas: The Case of Lagos in South West Nigeria

Abstract

With the many glowing promises painted about Lagos State over the past decades, several environmental challenges do exist in the area. This is evident with the pace of unprecedented urban development expansion and incursions into areas deemed ecologically fragile through the conversion of wetlands to human settlements in low-lying zones prone to the threats of sea level rise hazards and intense flooding. Additionally, the metropolitan area has also seen intense environmental degradation emanating from the pressures of unprecedented influx of people into the area. As the various land use activities and land reclamation projects in the state intensify to meet rising demands for settlements, the carrying capacity of the ecosystem remains threatened. The declining quality of the ecosystem as manifested with recurrent waste generation, limited access to fresh water supply, poor drainage and power outage, translates into extra burden for a place saddled already by fatalities from the outbreak of epidemics of water contamination and building collapse, emission of atmospheric toxics, the displacement of citizens and damages from climatic variability. With the problems attributed to a host of socio-economic and physical factors, very little exists in the literature to capture these trends spatially using a mixscale approach. This study will fill that void in research by assessing emerging environmental issues in the Lagos area. Using a mix scale approach of descriptive statistics and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze the trends, the results showed a mix of gains and declines in the land use parameters with major increases in areas devoted to urban development from 1976-2008 and 1976-2015, followed by losses in agricultural land and wetlands from 1976-2015. The issues remain compounded by the surge in population and water supply demands and instances of deficits from 1963-2020. While the GIS mapping revealed the gradual dispersion of ecosystem degradation indicators spread across the state, there exists clusters of areas vulnerable to environmental hazards across Lagos. To mitigate these risks, the paper offered several recommendations ranging from the need for effective policy to green planning education for city managers and developers and risk assessment.

Rapid spatial growth of cities and its planning implications for developing countries: a case study of Abuja, Nigeria.

“…This is also reflected in the city population dynamics as the population grew from 151.92% in 1990 to 3,095,116 in the year 2019 which is a 70.64% increase. These results were to be expected because the massive loss of land cover and increase in built-up areas have been identified as one of the consequences of rapid urbanization in cities across the globe (Sahoo, 2016;Merem et al 2018;Arora et al, 2018) and particularly in developing countries (see UN-HABITAT, 2010;Potts, 2012).…”

“…On the other hand, extensive urbanization or indiscriminate growth of cities may result in adverse effects such as over-stretching of existing infrastructure beyond its carry capacity, proliferation and the growth of slums; increased cost of living, crime rates; pollution; traffic congestion, air pollution, sewer system, and water pollution, noise (Mba, et al 2004;Odjugo, 2011;Daramola & Ibem, 2010;UN-HABITAT, 2010;Obi et al, 2021;Chukwurah et al, 2022) as well as massive loss of green areas (Atharinafi and Wijaya, 2021). Some scholars (Sahoo 2016;Merem et al 2018;Arora et al 2018) have specifically noted that some of the key challenges associated with rapid urban growth are land degradation, global warming/climate change, lack of potable water supply, and biodiversity loss.…”

Analyzing the Tragedy of Illegal Fishing on the West African Coastal Region

“…In that way, billions of dollars in illegal fish imported into the EU every year come from West Africa. Given the limited coverage of these issues, this paper will fill that void in research by examining the tragedy of over fishing in West Africa using a mix scale approach of GIS and descriptive statistics [49][50][51][52]. Emphases are on the issues, trends, factors, and impacts.…”

Regional Assessment of Climate Change Hazards in Southern Nigeria with GIS

“…In addition, exposure to coastal inundation also threatens Nigeria's Southern coast [16], including two major cities, Lagos and Port Harcourt and the others due to the lower elevation characteristics in the zone [17][18][19][20]. While the nation's symbol of economic power, Lagos, which accounts for about 60% of Nigeria's GDP, faces the threats of sea level rise [21][22][23]. Current hydrological modelling indicates that aside from the impending submergence of much of Lagos [24], a sea-level rise of 1m or more could result in the loss of 75% of the Niger Delta known for its vast marshlands vital for carbon sequestration [25].…”