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Green Economy: Challenges and Prospects for Improved Aquatic Agricultural System (AAS) in Niger Delta Communities

Received: 21 September 2014    Accepted: 10 October 2014    Published: 20 October 2014
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Abstract

There is dire need for deliberate green action plan to solve the endemic environmental crises occasioned by unsustainable utilization of natural resources and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta; a region with its characteristic terrain and eco-fragility that is highly susceptible to adverse environmental and climate change-related disasters. But, to successfully implement a green economy plan in the Niger Delta region, there has to be a well-thought out strategy with due appraisal of baseline environmental issues and concerns. The people of the delta depend, primarily, on the exploitation of the region’s rich bio-resources with fishing and farming forming the major sources of livelihoods. Observations by independent and intergovernmental global environmental protection players indicate that, the creeks, lands, mangroves, forests, etc provide inestimable goods and ecological services to the region’s inhabitants. Yet, they have been consistently degraded over the past four decades, mainly by industrial activities. Some identified challenges in greening the region and viable alternatives for sustainable agricultural development are, also, discussed. The authors have, therefore, proposed strategies such as consideration of complex biophysical and socio-economic factors, multi-stakeholder engagement, and a paradigm shift from the contemporary fossil energy-based agriculture to the more sustainable practices of biofuels and organic agriculture. A modelled paradigm for transforming current improved aquatic agricultural systems (AAS) to become more productive while, maintaining ecosystem services is proposed. Therefore, this paper examines current environmental issues and concerns as well as efforts variously made to address them in the Niger Delta against the backdrop of existing economic activities.

DOI 10.11648/j.aff.s.2014030601.15
Published in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Volume 3, Issue 6-1, November 2014)

This article belongs to the Special Issue Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment

Page(s) 28-35
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Agro-Ecology, Ecological Services, Wetlands, Niger Delta, Livelihood

References
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Author Information
  • Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt, PMB 5323, East-West Road, Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria

  • Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, College of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, PMB 5323, East-West Road, Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria

  • Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt, PMB 5323, East-West Road, Choba, Rivers State, Nigeria

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  • APA Style

    Nenibarini Zabbey, Ijeoma Favour Vincent-Akpu, Ibisime Etela. (2014). Green Economy: Challenges and Prospects for Improved Aquatic Agricultural System (AAS) in Niger Delta Communities. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 3(6-1), 28-35. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.s.2014030601.15

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    ACS Style

    Nenibarini Zabbey; Ijeoma Favour Vincent-Akpu; Ibisime Etela. Green Economy: Challenges and Prospects for Improved Aquatic Agricultural System (AAS) in Niger Delta Communities. Agric. For. Fish. 2014, 3(6-1), 28-35. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.s.2014030601.15

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    AMA Style

    Nenibarini Zabbey, Ijeoma Favour Vincent-Akpu, Ibisime Etela. Green Economy: Challenges and Prospects for Improved Aquatic Agricultural System (AAS) in Niger Delta Communities. Agric For Fish. 2014;3(6-1):28-35. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.s.2014030601.15

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  • @article{10.11648/j.aff.s.2014030601.15,
      author = {Nenibarini Zabbey and Ijeoma Favour Vincent-Akpu and Ibisime Etela},
      title = {Green Economy: Challenges and Prospects for Improved Aquatic Agricultural System (AAS) in Niger Delta Communities},
      journal = {Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries},
      volume = {3},
      number = {6-1},
      pages = {28-35},
      doi = {10.11648/j.aff.s.2014030601.15},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.s.2014030601.15},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.aff.s.2014030601.15},
      abstract = {There is dire need for deliberate green action plan to solve the endemic environmental crises occasioned by unsustainable utilization of natural resources and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta; a region with its characteristic terrain and eco-fragility that is highly susceptible to adverse environmental and climate change-related disasters. But, to successfully implement a green economy plan in the Niger Delta region, there has to be a well-thought out strategy with due appraisal of baseline environmental issues and concerns. The people of the delta depend, primarily, on the exploitation of the region’s rich bio-resources with fishing and farming forming the major sources of livelihoods. Observations by independent and intergovernmental global environmental protection players indicate that, the creeks, lands, mangroves, forests, etc provide inestimable goods and ecological services to the region’s inhabitants. Yet, they have been consistently degraded over the past four decades, mainly by industrial activities. Some identified challenges in greening the region and viable alternatives for sustainable agricultural development are, also, discussed. The authors have, therefore, proposed strategies such as consideration of complex biophysical and socio-economic factors, multi-stakeholder engagement, and a paradigm shift from the contemporary fossil energy-based agriculture to the more sustainable practices of biofuels and organic agriculture. A modelled paradigm for transforming current improved aquatic agricultural systems (AAS) to become more productive while, maintaining ecosystem services is proposed. Therefore, this paper examines current environmental issues and concerns as well as efforts variously made to address them in the Niger Delta against the backdrop of existing economic activities.},
     year = {2014}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Green Economy: Challenges and Prospects for Improved Aquatic Agricultural System (AAS) in Niger Delta Communities
    AU  - Nenibarini Zabbey
    AU  - Ijeoma Favour Vincent-Akpu
    AU  - Ibisime Etela
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    T2  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    JF  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    JO  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5648
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.s.2014030601.15
    AB  - There is dire need for deliberate green action plan to solve the endemic environmental crises occasioned by unsustainable utilization of natural resources and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta; a region with its characteristic terrain and eco-fragility that is highly susceptible to adverse environmental and climate change-related disasters. But, to successfully implement a green economy plan in the Niger Delta region, there has to be a well-thought out strategy with due appraisal of baseline environmental issues and concerns. The people of the delta depend, primarily, on the exploitation of the region’s rich bio-resources with fishing and farming forming the major sources of livelihoods. Observations by independent and intergovernmental global environmental protection players indicate that, the creeks, lands, mangroves, forests, etc provide inestimable goods and ecological services to the region’s inhabitants. Yet, they have been consistently degraded over the past four decades, mainly by industrial activities. Some identified challenges in greening the region and viable alternatives for sustainable agricultural development are, also, discussed. The authors have, therefore, proposed strategies such as consideration of complex biophysical and socio-economic factors, multi-stakeholder engagement, and a paradigm shift from the contemporary fossil energy-based agriculture to the more sustainable practices of biofuels and organic agriculture. A modelled paradigm for transforming current improved aquatic agricultural systems (AAS) to become more productive while, maintaining ecosystem services is proposed. Therefore, this paper examines current environmental issues and concerns as well as efforts variously made to address them in the Niger Delta against the backdrop of existing economic activities.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 6-1
    ER  - 

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