What is it about?

Water is used in every aspect of life, for health and hygiene, for producing food and energy and in the production of the majority of products we use and resources we exploit. Historically we ignored the impact on the environment and the poor that this mass exploitation caused. Owing to the impacts of climate change and the inadequate provision of water and sanitation infrastructure, coupled with wars in some places, people are migrating to escape poverty, war and inability to produce food for their families. This paper explores these issues as we reach a nexus, or tipping point, at which we must treat water as the valuable and finite resource it really is. The paper focuses on research work done in Nigeria, as the most populous exemplar of sub-Saharan Africa.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

The paper reflects upon research work done over the past ten years and is of particular significance due to the failure to meet sustainable development goals (SDG) in Nigeria. In fact, in terms of water access and sanitation, Nigeria is falling behind other countries in the GINI index of development at a rate of 3% per annum. This means that the issues need to be understood and action take to reverse the current trends if Nigeria's population is not to suffer more as climate change progresses.

Perspectives

To me, it is sad that, despite much investment over the years from commonwealth and international funders, the situation in Nigeria has stopped improving, and is in fact deteriorating, with peri-urban and rural communities suffering the most in terms of water and sanitation access.

Dr Anita Meldrum
Glasgow Caledonian University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Water Justice and its Dynamic Links to Water Resource Management, Water Security and Conflict in Nigeria, Global Journal of Engineering Sciences, March 2019, Iris Publishers LLC,
DOI: 10.33552/gjes.2019.01.000519.
You can read the full text:

Read

Contributors

The following have contributed to this page