Abstract
This study shows how mapping post-oil spill incidents can provide insights into the fate of sensitive ecosystems and serve as a decision-support tool for reducing the negative socio-environmental impacts of oil spills. The incidence of oil spills along pipelines have expanded in extent into habitats of sensitive natural ecosystems and threatens biodiversity conservation in Nigeria. These oil spills, directly and indirectly, influence critical ecosystems functioning such as protected areas, wildlife, wetlands, waterbodies, marine animals and plants, natural vegetation types and arable lands for food production. The geo-visualised oil spill records overlaid on GoogleEarth images provided geo-locational insights and intelligence that aid inferences on the impacts of oil spill incidents using geospatial mapping tools and web-service to support decision-making purposes in the oil spill management cycle. Furthermore, geospatial analysis of oil spills data from 2006 to 2019 along the ~5000 km of pipelines with the 2017 World Database of Protected Areas revealed numerous perils oil spills pose to the proper functioning and sustainability of terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Results showed that ~630 verified oil spills occurred in the forest reserves along the pipelines. Approximately 120 verified oil spills were recorded in game reserves and ~210 verified oil spills occurred in Ramsar site-wetlands of international importance. The oil spills that occurred along these pipelines are threats to the existence of intact tropical rain forests, savannah forests and protected areas since they intersect critical ecosystems. Numerous terrestrial and marine inhabitant were affected by oil spill events including land and underground water pollution, loss of human livelihood, heavy metal pollution, loss of farmland and damage of animal habitat. This assessment showed that the fusion of relevant environmental dataset is crucial in evaluating the fate, sensitivity and vulnerability of landscapes to oil spills using geo-mapping and geo-visualization concepts. In the context of achieving environmental sustainability and smart oil pipeline provisioning in line with the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is essential to use Geo-information tools such as integrated spatial planning and land-use concepts to evaluate potential perils linked to oil infrastructure development. Outcomes from impact assessment research of this kind should be incorporated as strategic tools for developing informed conservation economy policies, industry practices and good environmental governance mechanism for robust decision-making in the oil and gas sector of Nigeria towards attaining local-scale SDGs.
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