The Niger Delta wetlands: threats to ecosystem services, their importance to dependent communities and possible management measures

Abstract

The Niger Delta wetlands are changing rapidly, raising concern for the wetlands' health and for communities relying upon its ecosystem services. Knowledge on ecosystem service provision is important for effective ecosystem and livelihoods management, but is currently lacking for the Niger Delta. We synthesised literature and used the ‘Drivers–pressure–state–impact–response’ (DPSIR) framework to structure information on changes in the wetlands' ecosystem services and implications for dependent communities. The wetlands' ecosystem services are being eroded through oil and gas exploration, dredging, invasive plant infestation and wetland reclamation. This is exacerbated by rising demand for oil, population growth and weak governance. Mass fish migration, water pollution and reduction of wetland area are also evident, impacting ecosystem services and traditional livelihood systems. This has caused poverty; people have to buy goods that previously could be obtained from the wetlands. Effective wetland management will be aided by: recognition of ecosystem services' contributions to community well-being; understanding how benefits are distributed over time, space, stakeholder; and how these changes in response to pressures. Since key pressures in the wetland are anthropogenic, understanding the role of institutions in relation to the Niger Delta's ecosystem services is imperative.

Keywords:

• Niger Delta
• ecosystem services
• threats
• wetlands
• DPSIR

Acknowledgements

The first author acknowledges funding from the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the United Kingdom. We thank two anonymous referees for their valuable comments that helped improve the paper.

Notes

1. Ecosystem services are the benefits provided by ecosystems to humans (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005).

2. The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowls Habitat (the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands).

3. Computed from 2006 census data available from www.population.gov.ng/.

4. At a 1995 official exchange rate of N22 = $1.