Mitigating the Niger Delta Environmental Problem through Sustainable Development

Abstract

Niger Delta region of Nigeria is one of the foremost concentrations of biodiversity on the earth. The major environmental problem in the region is closely associated with its petroleum and industry. Oil spills, loss of mangrove forests, depletion of fish population, water hyacinth invasion, natural gas flaring and biological remediation constitutes the problem. Their impacts on the environment puts the future generation of the region in dilemma. Thus, the aim of the study is to examine sustainable development as panacea in mitigating the environmental problem of the Niger Delta. The major question this paper seeks to address is what are the means through which sustainable development might mitigate the Niger Delta environmental problem? The study is significant as it contributes to making available relevant information on securing environmental sustainability in the Niger Delta amidst global environmental challenges. The paper offers two perspectives to sustainable development. It argues that, taken as a development method, sustainable development serves as panacea for the environmental problem of the Niger Delta because it offer arrays of hope for the future generations of the region even when oil may have finished.