OPERATIONALIZING THE THEORY OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXTERNALITIES TO ASSESS SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY AND SURVIVAL OF COASTAL COMMUNITIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper operationalizes the theory of environmental externalities to assess socio-ecological sustainability and the survival of coastal communities in Nigeria. It argues that petroleum exploitation activities of Multinational Oil Corporations (MNOCs)in the coastal and marine areas of the Niger Delta in Nigeria produce negative environmental externalities and impose them on the environment at the expense of the survival of the coastal communities as third parties. The paper adopts the library research technique for data collection, while the analyses were conducted in the realm of the theory of environmental externalities. In the end, the paper identifies the theory of environmental externalities as a veritable tool for demystifying the costs and benefits of petroleum exploitation in Nigeria. In the realm of the theory also, the paper was able to underscore the fact that the negative environmental externalities, which are outcomes of the petroleum exploitation activities in the coastal and marine areas of the Niger Delta in Nigeria to a large extent, negatively impact socio-ecological sustainability and the survival of coastal communities in the region. Consequently, the paper concludes that the negative spill-over effects of petroleum exploitation on the coastal and marine environment undermine socio-ecological sustainability and risk the survival of the coastal communities in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Therefore, it recommends that the MNOCs, and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), which are the benefiting parties of the petroleum industry in the country should be more liable and adequately, compensate the coastal communities for the spill-over effects of the petroleum exploitation activities in the region. In addition, vital ecological regions should be identified and mapped out as protected areas (PAs) to avoid overexploitation on one hand, and on the other hand, to conserve the natural ecosystem resources the coastal communities depend on for survival in Nigeria..