Nigeria’s Niger Delta region is rich in natural resources. Its vast oil and gas deposits are the mainstay of the country’s economy.
The region, in the southernmost part of the country, features coastal barrier islands, mangroves, freshwater swamp forests and lowland rain forests. The coast offers various ways of making a living, like fishing, tourism, producing salt, and farming coconut and bananas.
Yet it is estimated that over 47% of the population in the region lives below the poverty line.
We study the economic aspects of environmental issues, and in a recent paper set out to understand the relationship between the destruction of coastal ecosystems in this region and the economic hardship the people faced.
We found that marine ecosystems had been badly affected by a number of factors, including an increasing population, pollution, over-fishing, damaging fishing techniques and global warming.
The degradation of the environment affects the poor the most as they depend on natural resources like seafood and wood for survival and energy. And they do not earn enough to relocate from polluted areas.