Search

Climate change has been adjudged as the most treacherous threat to global sustainability having its deteriorating effects on the ecosystems in the form of increase in temperature, haphazard changes in the pattern of rainfall, rising of the sea level etc. We believe the consequential impacts of climate change on food, biodiversity, health, and the overall economy have been of grave concern in Nigeria and to Africa as a whole. Hence, in this present study we demonstrate the intricate relationship between climate change, food security and violent conflicts in Nigeria, especially the root causes of famers-Fulani herdsmen clashes in Nigeria with the goal of providing sustainable conflict management strategies to the crisis. A mixed method research design (basically a mix of research papers’ syntheses, causal loop diagram, interviews/focus group discussions and the social progress index data) was analysed and adopted to achieve the study’s specific objectives.The causal loop diagram help us to demonstrate the interconnectivity of climate change, food security and violent conflicts. Interestingly, the majority of respondents (70%) ranked “resource scarcity due to increased desertification” as the top-rated cause for farmers-Fulani’s herdsmen clashes while less than one-quarter (21%) emphasised that urbanisation and social vices propelled the conflict. In light of these findings, we reasoned that there is a critical need to build the capacity of local communities to take on key governance roles around resource management while remediation and appropriate management measures of affected and vulnerable regions must commence without further delay. Government should strengthen police capacity to curb rustling and banditry, improving livestock tracking.

As COVID-19 continues to present unimaginable threats to the future of the environment, it is notimpossible to rethink that the continual existence of human race is at stake. More than 60% of toxicwastes released to the environment are largely contributed by manufacturing and service firms. Hence, this present study examined the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on corporate waste management program among selected American firms. A total of 42 notable firms across 3 cities in the US (Detroit, Atlanta and Houston) were successfully interviewed on their choices to reduce, reuse, recycle and recover their industrial waste since the outbreak of COVID-19. More than 80% of firms studied often generate plastics as waste; out of which, all firms (100%) agreed that COVID-19 encumbered their choices to manage plastic wastes. This study reasoned that COVID-19 will undoubtedly contribute to plastic pollution and its associated ecological risk in the US if appropriate measures are not painstakingly implemented. This study therefore recommends that Government and relevant stakeholders should restructure existing wastemanagement policies and sensitize American firms on grave dangers of plastic pollution and other toxicwastes in the environment. Meanwhile, this study has great implications for countries in the developing world. This is because developing countries are already mired with the challenges of managing plastic wastes in the pre- COVID-19 era and are further overwhelmed with the unprecedented plastic waste generation during COVID-19. Considering that in Africa and other developing nation, standard wastemanagement technologies and waste emergency policies to curb the pandemic is lacking or insufficient, and hence suggesting they may witness more serious impact of plastic pollution. Government at all tiers should not only make laudable waste management policies to curb environmental pollution, but must show sincerity of purpose and political-will to implement and enforce these polices to curtail impeding global impact of plastic pollution aggravated by COVID-19 pandemic.

Microplastic pollution is now globally flagged as a foremost menace to livelihoods, biodiversity, and public health due the pervasive nature of plastic wastes, poor knowledge of its ecological impact and poor attitude towards sustainable waste management practices. Hence, this paper explores public awareness, knowledge, attitude and perception on Microplastic pollution and its ecological health implication through a survey data collected from residents, students, fishermen and local tourist around Lagos Lagoon, a significant area in Lagos. Findings revealed that though awareness on microplastics was apparently high (over 50%), however, public knowledge was fairly acceptable and poor perception on Microplastic pollution was observed. Respondents (with a mean attitude score of 3.40±1.485) generally shows a good attitude towards learning more on this subject and a shared commitment to support government through cleanup volunteering and advocacy. In light of this findings, this study recommends that government, academia and relevant stakeholders should intensify efforts to educate the public more on issues of public health importance through massive campaigns, learned community activities and strategies that may reinforce positive environmental attitude.

An ethnobotanical study of Buru Community Forest was conducted using Participatory Rural Appraisal techniques. A total of 91 species of plants belonging to 43 Families with high endemicity were recorded. The dominant families were Fabaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Meliaceae. Many species such as Tetrapleura tetrapetra, Phyllanthus mullerianus, Sarcocephalus latifolius and Aframomum melegueta had multiple uses. The three major uses of the species are for medicinal (39 species), edible (33 species) and construction purposes (30 species). Keywords: Buru community forest, Ethnobotanical, Participatory Rural Appraisal technique.

Cement production is renowned for particulate contamination of the environment because of high dust emissions and heavy metals that later deposited in soils, serving as a sink. This study investigated the effect of cement dust pollution on some selected soil nutrients (phosphorous, protein, carbon and nitrogen) of the soil surface around Lafarge cement factory, Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria. Fifteen (15) composite topsoil samples of the soil surface were randomly collected in the eastern, western, and southern axes of the factory while control samples were collected 15 km from the factory. The samples were taken from a depth of 0 to 15cm and analyzed for chemical, physical and microbiological properties. Data were analyzed with ANOVA and Duncan Multiple Range Test. The results showed that Total Organic Nitrogen (TON), Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and Heavy Metals decreased with increasing distance from the cement factory while there was increase in the amount of Soil Protein and Soil Phosphorous. In conclusion, the inverse correlation between most of these heavy metals, the pH, and the activities of the soil nutrients are indicative that pollution caused by cement production exhibit a significant effect on soil nutrients and this may invariably affect the quality and condition of the soil of the area.