The study reveals the range of ecological damage by spreading niger delta oil

An international research team led by Gaulway University has used Earth observation radar data to map the 9,000 km of oil pipeline network² The area in the Niger Delta and Pinpoints where crude oil spread has caused the most intense damage to the delicate mangrove ecosystem.

Niger Delta hosts the second largest petroleum reserves in Africa, in which the Nigerian economy depends a lot on the industry.

But since the extraction and processing of oil started in the 1950s, the level of pollution is estimated to be equal to more than 13 million barrels, causing heavy damage to the environment and pose a serious health danger to those people. Those who live in people. Area.

Niger delta is one of the most ecological diverse areas at Earth and home for about 30 million people of over 40 ethnic groups. Most of them depend on farming and fishing for their livelihood and food security as well as their cultural identity and welfare.

The study was led by researchers at Ryan Institute at Gaulway University, in collaboration with Ilorin University in Nigeria. The findings of the study are Published In the journal remote sensing,

Researchers used Earth observation data from satellites, AI technology and imaging, which was usually implemented to assess heart health to analyze the direct effect of oil pollution on the region.

Researchers fixed the mortality rate of mangrove forests 5,644 hectares per year during the period of 2016-2024 – equivalent to 17 Central Park forest areas per year, or 28 gelic football pitch every day.

Data analysis allowed the research team to highlight specific locations in the huge pipeline network that requires immediate intervention and restoration. This allowed the team to identify several new pipeline sites in the north of the coastal city, showing evidence of significant oil spread damage that have been formally reported so far.

The lead author of the study, Jemima O’Farell, Ryan Institute and School of Natural Sciences, Gaulway University said, “Recently as a bachelor Was to develop a new way to map and assess the pipeline network.

The Niger Delta in Nigeria is a huge, complex, esturinous atmosphere that hosts the largest mangrove forest on the African continent and is the third largest humid land in the world. These forests are of heavy ecological and importance of biodiversity and actively sequence a sufficient amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Monitoring the oil pipeline network and the vitality of the surrounding delta in such a vast area is extremely difficult, with the ideal after the affiliated under-reporting and subsequent assessment. The attention to pollution is more on the “total oil” loss, rather than connecting damage to the ecosystem damage.

The team deployed a combination of data to analyze the effect on mangroves, in which the European Commission used to use two -dimensional images or three -dimensional reconstruction items using the imagery recorded by the Prahari -1 Earth observation satellites of the European Commission. goes. The data has been recorded every week since 2016, and severely, the technique guarantees almost the right viewing position every time, regardless of the almost consistent cloud cover.

The co-writer of the study, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Ilorin University, Nigeria, Dr. Abocade Omovumi Babatunde said, “The findings of our work will help the local communities affected by the conclusions to spread oil and the magnitude of the hav.

“It can help those communities reflect their own actions such as pipelines, and illegal and artisan bunkering, in terms of their own health, environment, its resources and stability, reflecting adverse consequences of their own actions. .

Dr. Aaron Golden, Ryan Institute and School of Natural Sciences, University of Gaulway and Project Principal Investigator, said, “This project reflects the unprecedented power of interdisciplinary research to remove the most difficult of social challenges. For a separate bioficial reference, such as Niger Delta, originally brings a revolution in our ability to map and both oil pipeline monitors integrity, but we are also going by the fact of science from science fiction .