Oil Pollution and Eastern Obolo Human Ecology, 1957-2007

Abstract

Human ecology concerns the relationship between man and his environment (Onosode 1998). In the environment are other organisms of flora and fauna whose importance to human beings need not be overstated. The occurrence of oil pollution in the Eastern Obolo ecosystem did not only degrade the human values but also deny the people of other organisms used by them to maintain and promote their living. As a result, this paper is a study of how oil pollution damaged Eastern Obolo (Andoni) human ecology. The paper started with the causes which are the exploration and exploitation of petroleum for half a century. It also analyzes the processes of extracting crude oil through which pollution emanates. The adverse effects on the flora and fauna, traditional economies and social practices of the people are parts of the text of this essay. So also are its engendered poverty, food contamination and lack of security of human life. Others are the desecration of religious, cultural and historical centres, loss of potential archaeological sites, decay in social values, increase of social vices and the health hazards experienced in the area within the period under review.

Keywords: Economic-decline, environmental-degradation, hazards, poverty,
social-vices, spillage.