# Niger Delta Ecosystems: the ERA Handbook

THE ERA HANDBOOK TO THE NIGER DELTA (THE HUMAN ECOSYSTEMS OF THE NIGER DELTA)
Environmental Rights Action 1998
Dedicated to Nnah Uabari, shot dead on the 25th
October 1993 near Shell Flow Station No. 5, Kokokoro,
Ogoni, Rivers State, Nigeria
©1998 by Environmental Rights Action. Niger Delta Ecosystems: the ERA Handbook, 1998
is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Licence
(international): http://creativecommons.org/licences/by-sa/3.0
THE ERA HANDBOOK TO THE NIGER DELTA (THE HUMAN ECOSYSTEMS OF THE NIGER DELTA)
Dedicated to
NNAH UABARI
who was shot dead on the 25th October 1993
near Shell Flow Station No. 5,
Kokokoro, Ogoni, Rivers State, Nigeria
Written by Nick Ashton-Jones Scientific editing by Susi Arnott Advice by Oronto Douglas
With the Support of Friends of the Earth International and the Netherlands Committee of the World Conservation Union (IUCN)
Environmental Rights Action 1998
| 1 | PROLOGUE | 5 |
| 1.1 | The First Edition | 5 |
| 1.2 | Additional Information | 5 |
| 1.3 | Support and Assistance | 5 |
| 1.4 | The Maps | 6 |
| 1.5 | The Figures | 21 |
| 2 | INTRODUCTION | 30 |
| 2.1 | What is ERA? | 30 |
| 2.2 | The ERA Philosphy | 30 |
| 2.3 | ERA Knowledge is Based upon Participatory Research. | 32 |
| 2.4 | What is Participatory Research? | 33 |
| 3 | WHAT IS THE ENVIRONMENT? | 35 |
| 3.1 | Defining Ecology and Environment in Terms of the Human Landscape | 35 |
| 3.2 | Analysing a Landscape | 36 |
| 3.3 | The Human Landscape: Economic Activity and Society | 38 |
| 3.4 | Landscapes are Alive | 39 |
| 3.5 | Ecosystems | 40 |
| 3.6 | Terms Used in the Descriptions of Ecosystems | 41 |
| 3.7 | Plants and Animals in Ecosystems | 42 |
| 3.8 | The Dynamics of Ecosystems and Viability | 43 |
| 3.9 | Real Ecology: Human Society | 46 |
| 4 | WHAT IS THE NIGER DELTA? | 48 |
| 4.1 | A Unique Ecosystem | 48 |
| 4.2 | Relief | 49 |
| 4.3 | Local Climate | 50 |
| 4.4 | Hydrology | 50 |
| 4.5 | Soils | 51 |
| 4.6 | Natural Vegetation | 56 |
| 4.7 | Natural Animal Communities | 56 |
| 4.8 | The Natural Ecosystem | 57 |
| 5 | THE NATURAL LOWLAND EQUATORIAL MONSOON (LEM) ECOZONE | 60 |
| 5.1 | Introduction | 60 |
| 5.2 | Tropical Rainforest: Definition and Classification | 60 |
| 5.3 | Correcting Some Misconceptions About the Rainforest | 61 |
| 5.4 | Distribution of the Natural Tropical Rainforest Biome | 63 |
| 5.5 | Micro-Climate of the LEM Rainforest | 64 |
| 5.6 | Physical Characteristics of the LEM Rainforest | 67 |
| 5.7 | Diversity of Tree Forms in the LEM Rainforest | 69 |
| 5.8 | Biodiversity of the LEM Rainforest | 71 |
| 5.9 | Plant Species of the LEM Rainforest | 72 |
| 5.10 | Animal Species of the LEM Rainforest | 75 |
| 5.11 | The Sub-Ecozones of the LEM Ecozone of the Niger Delta | 77 |
| 6 | THE NATURAL FRESHWATER ALLUVIAL EQUATORIAL MONSOON (FAM) ECOZONE | 78 ​ |
| 6.1 | Introduction | 78 |
| 6.2 | The Complexity of the Natural FAM Ecosystems | 78 |
| 6.3 | Palms and Other Vegetation | 80 |
| 6.4 | Sub-Ecozones of the FAM Ecozone | 81 |
| 6.5 | Animal Communities of the FAM | 85 |
| 7 | THE NATURAL BRACKISH-WATER ALLUVIAL EQUATORIAL MONSOON (BAM) ECOZONE | 88 |
| 7.1 | Introduction | 88 |
| 7.2 | Mangrove Forests and their Distribution | 88 |
| 7.3 | Plant Species Composition of the Nigerian Mangroves | 89 |
| 7.4 | The Dynamics of Mangrove Ecology | 91 |
| 7.5 | Food Chains of the BAM Ecosystem | 92 |
| 7.6 | Animal Communities of the BAM Ecozone | 93 |
| 7.7 | The Brackish-water/Freshwater Ecozone | 94 |
| 8 | THE NATURAL SAND-BARRIER ISLANDS OF THE NIGER DELTA | 96 |
| 8.1 | The Formation of the Sand-Barrier Islands | 96 |
| 8.2 | The Balance Between Deposition and Erosion | 97 |
| 8.3 | The Natural Ecosystems | 98 |
| 8.4 | The Beach Strand Sub-Ecozones | 99 |
| 8.5 | Animal Communities of the Sand-Barrier Islands | 100 |
| 9 | THE NATURAL ESTUARIES & IN-SHORE WATERS OF THE NIGER DELTA | 101 |
| 9.1 | Introduction | 101 |
| 9.2 | Ecosystem Dynamics of the Estuaries and Inshore Waters | 101 |
| 9.3 | Plants and Animals of the Estuaries and Inshore Waters | 102 |
| 10 | PEOPLE AND RESOURCE-USE CONFLICT | 105 |
| 10.1 | Animal Populations and Ecosystems | 105 |
| 10.2 | Resource Cycles and People | 105 |
| 10.3 | The Ecological Problem of Modern Society | 109 |
| 10.4 | Resource-Use Conflicts | 111 |
| 10.5 | Is There an Easy Solution? | 112 |
| 11 | THE RESOURCES OF THE NIGER DELTA | 105 |
| 11.1 | Renewable and Non-renewable Resources | 114 |
| 11.2 | Land | 115 |
| 11.3 | Water | 116 |
| 11.4 | Fish | 119 |
| 12 | THE RESOURCES OF THE NIGER DELTA: FORESTS | 123 |
| 12.1 | The Nature of the Resource | 123 |
| 12.2 | Classification of the Forest Condition in the Niger Delta | 123 |
| 12.3 | Forest Resources by Ecozone | 125 |
| 12.4 | The Economic Problem of the Forest Resources | 127 |
| 12.5 | Economic Cost-Benefit Analyses of Forest Exploitation | 128 |
| 13 | THE RESOURCES OF THE NIGER DELTA: SOIL AND AGRICULTURE | 130 |
| 13.1 | Introduction | 130 ​ |
| 13.2 | Agriculture in the LEM Ecozone | 133 |
| 13.3 | Agriculture in the Fresh-water Ecozone. | 139 |
| 13.4 | Agriculture in the Brackish-water Ecozone | 142 |
| 13.5 | Agriculture and the Barrier-Island Ecozone | 143 |
| 13.6 | A Summary of Agricultural Resources in the Niger Delta. | 145 |
| 14 | RESOURCES OF THE NIGER DELTA: MINERALS | 146 |
| 14.1 | Mining in the Niger Delta | 146 |
| 14.2 | Oil Mining in the Niger Delta: the Moral Issue | 147 |
| 14.3 | Oil Geology and Production | 148 |
| 14.4 | The National Importance of Oil In Nigeria | 153 |
| 14.5 | International Importance of Nigerian Oil | 153 |
| 14.6 | Natural Gas | 154 |
| 14.7 | Sand | 157 |
| 14.8 | Soil and Clay | 158 |
| 14.9 | Periwinkle Shells | 158 |
| 14.10 | Salt | 158 |
| 15 | THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE OIL INDUSTRY ON THE NIGER DELTA | 159 |
| 15.1 | The Nature of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) | 159 |
| 15.2 | The Potential Adverse Environmental Impact of the Oil Industry | 163 |
| 15.3 | The Actual Adverse Environmental Impact of the Oil Industry | 165 |
| 15.4 | Common Impacts | 171 |
| 15.5 | Specific Impacts | 177 |
| 15.6 | The Economic Costs of Oil Production in the Niger Delta | 186 |
| 16 | THE HUMAN ECOSYSTEMS: INTRODUCTION | 189 |
| 16.1 | The Human Landscape | 189 |
| 16.2 | The Natural Ecozones of the Niger Delta | 190 |
| 16.3 | The Human Economic Impact | 190 |
| 16.4 | Society | 193 |
| 16.5 | The Resulting Human Landscape | 196 |
| 17 | THE HUMAN ECOSYSTEMS: THE BOTEM-TAI DISTRICT | 198 |
| 17.1 | Location | 198 |
| 17.2 | Topography | 198 |
| 17.3 | The Soils | 199 |
| 17.4 | The Natural Ecosystem | 199 |
| 17.5 | Natural and Viable Society | 200 |
| 17.6 | Modern Society | 201 |
| 17.7 | The Economy | 202 |
| 17.8 | The Environment as seen by Local People | 205 |
| 17.9 | Social and Political Status | 206 |
| 17.10 | Addendum: Shell in Ogoni | 207 |
| 18 | THE HUMAN ECOSYSTEMS: THE ANYAMA DISTRICT | 209 |
| 18.1 | Location | 209 |
| 18.2 | Topography | 209 |
| 18.3 | Soils | 210 ​ |
| 18.4 | The Natural Ecosystems | 210 |
| 18.5 | Natural and Viable Society | 211 |
| 18.6 | Modern Society | 212 |
| 18.7 | The Economy | 213 |
| 18.8 | Anyama as Seen by Local People | 213 |
| 18.9 | Social and Political Status of Anyama | 214 |
| 19 | THE HUMAN ECOSYSTEMS: SANGANA IN AKASSA | 215 |
| 19.1 | Location | 215 |
| 19.2 | Topography of Akassa Island | 215 |
| 19.3 | Soils | 216 |
| 19.4 | The Natural Ecosystem | 217 |
| 19.5 | Natural and Viable Society | 218 |
| 19.6 | Modern Society | 219 |
| 19.7 | The Economy | 220 |
| 19.8 | Social and Political Status of Akassa | 221 |
| 20 | THE HUMAN ECOSYSTEMS: OKOROBA-NEMBE | 222 |
| 20.1 | Location | 222 |
| 20.2 | Topography | 222 |
| 20.3 | Soils | 223 |
| 20.4 | The Natural Ecosystems | 224 |
| 20.5 | Natural and Viable Society | 225 |
| 20.6 | Modern Society | 227 |
| 20.7 | The Economy of the Okoroba-Nembe District | 228 |
| 20.8 | The Environment as seen by Local People | 229 |
| 20.9 | Social and Political Status of Okoroba-Nembe | 230 |
| 20.10 | Addendum: Local People and the Oil Industry | 231 |
| 21 | THE HUMAN ECOSYSTEMS: PORT HARCOURT | 239 |
| 21.1 | Introduction | 239 |
| 21.2 | History | 240 |
| 21.3 | Modern Development | 241 |
| 21.4 | The Modern City - Trends and Future Development | 242 |
| 21.5 | Ecological Setting | 243 |
| 21.6 | The Survey Locations | 244 |
| 21.7 | The Residents | 245 |
| 21.8 | Cultural and Social Issues | 245 |
| 21.9 | Economic Issues | 246 |
| 21.10 | Social Infrastructure and the Urban Environment | 247 |
| 21.11 | Social Infrastructure and the Urban Environment - Housing | 248 |
| 21.12 | The Urban Environment | 248 |
| 21.13 | The Psychological Issues | 250 |
| 21.14 | Participation in Urban Management | 250 |
| 21.15 | The Impact of Port Harcourt on its Region | 250 |
| 21.16 | Conclusions | 250 |
| 21.17 | Appendix: Statements by Residents | 252 |
| | INDEX | 255 |
| | BIBLIOGRAPHY | 265 |
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