Monday, 22 February 2016
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE MANAGEMENT
Introduction:
Waste has been defined in so many ways. The Bassel Convention defines Waste as …………………………
In Nigeria Waste is construed as any material that lacks utility or an object or substance that the owner or generator voluntarily or involuntarily relinquishes ownership.
Waste is generally assumed to be a negative externality and a measure of human imperfection. Waste is also associated with national development and infact in most cases can be seen as an index of the developing economy. Nigeria must in essence plan to accommodate it in her development plan.
Waste is a potential hazard by virtue of its nature and composition, therefore it imperfects handling has severe consequences on the safety and wellbeing of the public. Unlike unadulterated materials or finished commercial products, wastes do not possess the qualities of perfect-market goods. This negative externality implies that waste management services requires extra ordinary Government involvement to turn it into amiable investment material that will create wealth as well as impact on the general wellbeing of Nigeria.
Primarily, the objectives of waste management are to offer clean urban hygiene, environmental protection, conservation of materials and alternative source of energy. In Nigeria waste management is still at a domestic scale and totally alienated from other sectors as an indicator of growth. This is very evident in various Federal and State Sanitation Laws which is contrary to global trends where waste management is mainstreamed into National development frameworks. The household problem philosophy requiring house-to-house inspection can no longer suffice. Waste management is posing urban-scale challenge that demands a “chain of control from generator to manager” therefore; waste management requires a more integrated systematic and well-engineered social instrument to synchronize it with the economic development of a Nation. It is imperative that for the good development of Nigeria, this conference must include environmental provisions in the Nations Compilation that will practically realize the aspirations of protecting and preserving the environment for sustainability.
2. Environmental issues:
2.1 Waste management situation and aspiration (FACTS)
Waste generation in Nigeria is on the increase at an estimated rate of about 0.5 – 0.7% per annum. This may correspond with the rate the Nigerian population is growing. Figures collected from various studies conducted indicated that waste generation in Nigeria ranges from 0.4 to 0.6 Ton /capita /annum. Waste complexity is also increasing with biodegradable waste currently accounting for over 50%. This amounts to over 60milion tons of annual waste burden on Nigeria with less than 10% waste management capacity. This capacity is generally provided and delivered by the public sector. Commercialization of this sector has remained a task with poor or no success story throughout Nigeria. The failure is due to poor national policy of free-service, poor infrastructure stock and low manpower. Additionally, Nigerian development policies have been highly dominated by economic objectives so in which case environmental protection is ranked low. Furthermore, bulk of available fund is in government possession resulting in high rate of corruption, and low private sector participation. Consequently, private sector is very weak and unable to deliver basic services like waste disposal, and urban cleansing to the citizens.
2.2 Population Influence:
Currently, Nigeria has about forty per cent (40%) of her population living in the cities with a growing urbanization rate of about 7% per annum and less than ten per cent (10%) of the city populations enjoying marginal waste management services, and the rural population are left out of any scheme of services. Also, less than one per cent (1%) of Nigerian GDP is spent annually on waste management services. This is far less than the recommended standard of three to five percent (3-5%) of national GDP. The situation is slightly encouraging in Lagos State where Waste management has risen appreciably above just mere collection and disposal because of the involvement of the private sector in Waste management services. Currently, Lagos State generates 20 billion naira from Waste management.
The 21st Century Nigeria is expected to witness technological growth, increased urbanization, private sector controlled economy and environmental awareness. These changes shall be accompanied with increased waste yield and complexity, more public demand for environmental protection and waste management services. The new Nigerians also aspire, to have an economy that shall progressively internalizing environmental cost of goods and services in line with various international commitments entered into by the Government. Is the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory prepared for this. This Conference must provide the stimulus.
2.3 Constitutional provision for Waste management.
Section 20 of the 1999 Nigeria Constitution (as amended) proclaimed, the national environmental aspiration as protection and improvement of the environment (including the land, waters and the atmosphere). A reflection on this proclamation with respect to waste management implies:
The Waste management objectives of 1989 National Environmental Policy are protection of public health and environmental pollution control. The policy stipulates national methods for waste and pollution information development and also prescribes environmental protection as a constitutional duty of all tiers of governments. It clearly proclaims also, prompt domestication of international legal instruments that Nigeria ratifies. These pronouncements remain as rhetoric.
All these require proper pricing and charging of both producers and consumers of goods and services to instil sensible use of environmental resources. However, the National environmental aspiration is further trivialised by 4th Schedule of the same Constitution, which casually ascribed the responsibility to Local Government. It is also important to state that Sub-Section ‘h’ of Section 1 of this Schedule merely referred to refuse disposal not waste in its entirety or its management. Waste matters outside related matters, are residual by virtue of it not appearing in any of the lists in 2nd Schedule of the Constitution.
3. Challenges:
C. Waste Industry Challenges:
ISSUES & ARGUMENTS
Waste management industry is one of the most controlled in the developed economies nevertheless; it is obviously not regulated in most developing economics including Nigeria. This has contributed to high occupational public health (sanitation and poor potable water) delivery costs, and long-term environmental liabilities. Sadly, Nigeria today has no comprehensive policy framework on waste management.
No Nationally acceptable definition of waste and consequently resulting in poor enforcement.
Waste has not been mainstreamed into our development fabrics in all sectors and also into the up and downstream of material cycle. This has contributed to the slow pace of departure from the present situation. Framework of an enduring policy instrument likely to sustain Nigerian aspiration in waste management shall recognize the socio-economic structure of Nigeria, thus structuring responsibilities and jurisdiction in similar manner to minimise friction and improve business environment. Country’s stock of infrastructure is a critical factor of economic growth and offers opportunities for enterprise development and job creation. It is important to state that while improvement of infrastructural stock preoccupies successive governments no serious attention has been given to environmental management infrastructure. It is indeed a result of lack of planning with attendant uncoordinated, non-sustainable and wasteful development. The consequence of this approach is infrastructure stock imbalance or disorder. Examples of these are everywhere and include: development of Housing Estate without a Sewage management capacity; development of Nuclear Power Plant without Radioactive Waste Capacity and so on.
Today no institution offers waste management as a discipline, no statutory professional organisation exist in Environmental Management yet our environment is continuously threatened by waste which has remained our urban scare. Who then is our environmental development going to rest on? This has led to lack of professionals, standards and ethical control of our environmental resources. In the same vain, we lack waste management information which is a basic tool for planning and commercialization. Critical to development of a supportive Waste Management Industry for the 21st Century Nigerian economy, is waste accountability through informative policy instrument. This will in no small measure engender the internalization of cost of waste management into goods and services and, will stimulate private investment and encourage sustainable production and consumption.
Waste accountability includes three responsibilities physical, financial and informative. Waste generator shall be physically responsible as the owner of wastes generated. This entails duty to ensure good storage, treatment and responsible disposal. Financially, waste generator shares in the economic burden of managing the waste (from collection to disposal). Waste generator by this instrument shall be required to render and account of its waste yield to regulators either personally or through the waste managers. This informative instrument shall encourage planning and improve certainties in the industry thereby minimizing investment risks.
D. RECOMMENDATIONS: PRAYERS
Prayer 1: Responsibility in Waste Management Chain
Prayer 2: Waste Definition for regulation & control
v Disarmament and explosive waste;
v Nuclear, and radioactive waste; and
v All mining wastes (solid, liquid and gaseous minerals).
v State Waste shall consist of:
v All other Hazardous waste including Healthcare waste and excluding Federal Waste.
v Council Waste includes:
v all non-hazardous wastes including domestic and small commercial, and
v Institutionally generated wastes.
Prayer 3:
Simplification of Jurisdiction:
Prayer4:
Institutional simplification
Prayer 5:
Harmonization of Waste Management Framework
– is harmful,
– must be accounted for,
– management should be based on best practices and sustainability, and
– Management should be all inclusive (private & public)
Prayer 6:
Professionalism and Enforcement:
CONCLUSION
The national aspiration of Nigeria for waste management is achievable with appropriate and well-targeted and integrated policy instruments that will be driven by strong political will, technological innovation and business initiatives. Vertical and horizontal partnership amongst governments and the private sector in the industry is necessary to ensure that the reform agenda of the Government brings a sustainable change to the industry.
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Sunday, 22 November 2015
CONSERVATION OF SPECIE
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
FACULTY OF SCIENCE
FEDERAL UNIVERSITY DUTSE
COURSE: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING
COURSE CODE: EMT 209
TOPIC:
CONSERVATION OF SPECIES
COMPILED BY :
AHMED SADIQ GUMEL
FSC/EMT/14/0044
November,2015
Table of Contents
CONSERVATION
OF SPECIES
INTRODUCTION:
The
biosphere constitutes a vital life support system for man. It existence in a
healthy and functional state is essential for the existence of the human race.
It is the complex collection of innumerable organisms. The word conservation
has been derived from the two Latin words “con” meaning together and “servare”
meaning to keep or guard. Literally it means to keep together. Shortly after
the white house conference of 1908 Gifford Pinchot first coined the word
conservation. In general the concept of conservation was started for non
renewable resources, but for renewable resources, also proper management is
necessary. No one knows the exact number of species in our planet. Scientist
believes that the total number of species on our planet is between 10 million
to 80 million (stork and Wilson 1998). However only about 1.4 million have been
identified.
WHAT IS BIODIVERSITY?
Complex beyond understanding and valuable beyond measure,
biodiversity is the total variety of life on our planet, which is the total
number of races, varieties, microbes, plants and animals present in a system.
Biological diversity is usually analyzed at 3 different
levels which are ;
·
Diversity
of biotic communities and ecosystem
·
Diversity
of specie in a community
·
Diversity
of genetic organization within a specie
ENDEMISM AND HOT-SPOTS OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY:
Endemism species can be define as
those species that are confined only to a particular locality, such organism
are very important from the point of view of conservation on their disappearance
means extinction of the species as they are not found elsewhere.
Naturally, the endemic specie and
their habitats which are likely to be lost forever should receive urgent
conservations attention, once lost there is no way to recover them. Based on
the degree of endemism in specie conservation, Myers (1988) has identified 12
such localities in tropical regions of the world which require urgent
attention. These localities include;
·
Hawaii islands
·
Columbian chako
·
Western equador
·
Uplands of western Amazonia
·
Atlantic forest area of brazil
·
Eastern Madagascar
·
Eastern Himalayas
·
Peninsular Malaysia
·
Northern Borneo
·
Philippines
·
Queens – island, Australia
·
New Caledonia
These hot-spots area represents
0.2% of the earth surface, 3.5% of primary forest biological species; however,
they posse’s 34,400 endemic plant species which is about 27% of all tropical
forest species and 13% of total plant species found on earth.
In 1990, Myers identified another
8 hot-spots of endemic species diversity in other climatic regions of the world
which are:
·
Western floral province, California
·
Central Chile
·
Ivory coast
·
Cape floral province, Africa
·
Western Ghats, India
·
Sri-lanka
·
South west Australia
·
Eastern arc province, Tanzania
These 8 hot-spots covers 0.3% of
world total land surface but posses
15,555 endemic species of plants representing 6% total number of species of
plants worldwide.
On worldwide basis, about 4.9% of
earth land surface has been set aside for nationally protected areas. However,
much of earth hot-spots of biodiversity which comprises only one tenth of these
areas are not protected at all.
IMPORTANCE OF BIODIVERSITY
To human race, the biosphere is a
life support system. Each species has its own role to play. Conservation of
these biodiversities is vital to biospheres health, stability and proper
functioning. They are four major importance of conservation of species:
1.
Biological diversity as a valuable natural
resource:
Plants and
animals have been exploited by man since time immemorial. Food, clothing,
shelter and a number of useful products come from a wide variety of living
organism. Biological diversity is a valuable natural resource for the survival
of mankind. A gradual reduction of which may result in disappearance of species
of economic value to human race.
2.
Biological diversity as a valuable genetic
resource:
Repeated cultivation of variety over a long period of
time under human care gradually reduces its vigor and productivity and this can
lead to an extensive damage to cultivate species. They yield quality resistance
to disease, pest, and adverse climatic condition are due to genetic factors.
3.
Biological diversity as instrument of
maintaining stable and healthy ecosystem
In an ecosystem everything is related to everything
else. A system of complex interactions exists between various components of a
healthy ecosystem which occur in a state of dynamic equilibrium. There are
several species or alternative which can take over and keep the system in a
functional state. But in a simple system loss of a single or few species could
be catastrophic because of the lack of alternatives. Thus, diversity imparts
stability to an ecosystem.
4.
Biological diversity as a means of optimum
utilization and conservation of abiotic resources in an ecosystem:
Biological diversity serves as ecosystem as an
effective instrument, which ensures optimum utilization of abiotic resources.
In moist tropics with rich biodiversity in the world, most of the nutrients are
lodged in its biotic community. Decomposition of organic matter and
regeneration of nutrients are very rapid processes due to the warm and humid
conditions. A wide variety of plants which include large trees, herbs, shrubs,
grasses, climbers, etc quickly absorb all the nutrients which are made
available to them as a results of mineralization.
REDUCTION IN BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY; THE SITUATION TODAY
Millions of years of organic
evolution handed over to us a vast variety of plants, animals, and microbial
species. We have been able to describe only 2.5% to 12% of the total number of
species present on our planet, which scientist believe is between 10-80 million
(John C. Ryan 1992). The approximate total number of species in different taxa
of animal and plant as compiled from taxonomic studies shows that we have about
1,595,255 known species on our planet that is I,685,500 animal species and
about 300,000 plant species.
Ordinarily, if a particular life
form is not located for a considerable period of time, it is considered to be
extinct. But an element of uncertainty always persist, it is not possible to
rule out the possibility of occurrences of the organism in some unexplored
corner of the earth surface.
The pattern of extinction which
emerges from a study of about 500 cases since 1600 AD indicates that nearly 75%
of extinctions have occurred in islands instead of main continents. These were
mostly associated with extinction of European influence. In the case of
continent extinction more than 65% involved aquatic organisms {Diamond 1989)
MAJOR CAUSES OF REDUCTION IN BIODIVERSITY
Usually, disturbances of any type in ecosystems lead reduce its biological diversity. As
human population raises, an ever increasing demand for raw materials, food and
spaced is placed on natural ecosystem while enormous quantities of wastes and
spoils are introduced into the environment. The major causes of reduction in
biological diversity are:
Destruction of natural resources:-
The requirement of
space, food and raw materials for expanding human establishments is one of the
most importance singular causes of such rapid decline. In biodiversity, much of
the surface area of our globe where agriculture or cattle ranching is possible
has been brought under human use. All over the world the process of biological
impoverishments is taking its toll of species after species.
Adverse changes in biotic or abiotic environment
Unfavorable
changes in the biotic and abiotic factors of the environment of an ecosystem
may be brought about by:-
·
Environmental
pollution :-
Pollution involves the introduction of undesirable and
harmful material or energy into the ecosystem. Most of these pollutants, even
seemingly harmless materials adversely affect the biotic community. The hardy,
tenuous and resistance species survive while the weaker and susceptible species
are eliminated.
·
Over
exploitation of selected species:-
Merciless hunting or collection of a selected group of living
organism for food, profit or recreation is an old cause of extermination. There
is a considerable evidence to suggest that the extinction of large pleistone
animals in North America. The wooly mammoth, horses, camels and mastodons was
caused by the Stone Age hunters. Even today hunters and collectors are
significant threat to a number of species.
Whales, elephants, most wild cats, rhinoceros, many species of snake,
crocodiles, etc are mercilessly hunted for their hides, tusks or horns.
Other forms or causes of reduction in biodiversities
include:-
·
Natural
events or calamities
·
Introduction
of exotic species
·
Habitat
fragmentation
CONSERVING THE BIODIVERITY
As human enterprise expands and
biodiversity habitat shrinks, numerous species will be lost. Many protected
areas are too small and subject to frequent changes to sustain the viable
population of species. The conservation of this biodiversity could be in two
forms, we have the ex-situ conservation and the in-situ conservation.
The ex-situ conservation is an
age old practice. Man has been breeding animals and plants under his care for
times immemorial. Ex-situ conservation involves maintenance and breeding of
endangered species of plant and animals under partially or wholly controlled
conditions in zoo, gardens, nurseries and laboratories.
The in-situ conservation involves
the conservation of species in their natural habitat that is in places where
the species normally occur. The natural surrounding or the entire ecosystem is
protected and maintained so that all the constituent species known or unknown
to us are conserved. We simply try to eliminate factors which are detrimental
to the existence of species concerned and nature take care of its own self.
SOME EXTINCT SPECIES IN THE WORLD
|
ANIMAL EXTINCT SPECIES
|
YEAR OF EXTINCTION
|
|
Zanzibar leopard
|
1996
|
|
West African black rhinoceros
|
2006
|
|
Spix macaw
|
2004
|
|
Pyrenean ibex
|
2000
|
|
Round island burrowing boa
|
1975
|
|
Po’ouli
|
2004
|
|
Javan tiger
|
1979
|
|
PLANT EXTINCT SPECIES
|
YEAR OF EXTINCTION
|
|
St. Helena olive tree
|
2003
|
|
Kokia cookei
|
1978
|
|
Woods cycad
|
1916
|
|
Radula visiniaca
|
2000
|
|
Sri lanka legume tree
|
1998
|
|
Arunchal hopea tree
|
1998
|
|
Sigillaria
|
19th century
|
WORLD GENERAL ASSEMBLIES ON CONSERVATION OF SPECIES
Several world assemblies have been held to deal with
environmental issues concerning the extinction of species in the past years by
different organizations. Some of the general assembly’s held in the past
include:
1.
The Rio summit of 1992 in Brazil.
2.
The green web summit of 1984 in Madrid.
3.
The United Nations earth summit in New York.
4.
The IUCN: world wildlife fund of April 1977 in
Switzerland.
5.
The IUCN: world conservation congress of 1969 in
New Delhi India.
While some of the recent and upcoming
events on species conservation include:
1.
The IUCN congress in Hawaii by September 2016.
2.
The 8th world ecosystem service
partnership conference November 2015.
3.
The 6th African Eurasian migratory
water bird agreements session November 2015.
4.
The sustainable ocean summit November 2015.
5.
Forest and livelihood assessments conference
November 2015.
REFERENCES
1.
Environmental problems and solutions D.K.
Asthana and Meera Asthana 1998
2.
Myers N. 1998, threaten biotas.
3.
Myers N. 1990, the biodiversity challenge
4.
Natural resource conservation and environmental
management Prof S.A. Qazi and Prof. Navaid Shabir Qazi, 2008.
5.
Environmental science pp 222-238, willians D.
and Mary Ann 2012
6.
Irin Gray tropical rainforest animal 2012.
7.
www.iisd.ca
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