Environmental Statistics

ENVIRONMENTAL STATISTICS

1. Introduction

Environmental Statistics are some of the most important data required for the various aspects of socio-economic planning and environmental monitoring at the local and national levels. Almost all socio-economic activities of man affect the environment, hence environmental statistics cut across many sectors and sub-sectors.

For example, climatic data are required for the general planning of farming activities including timing of cropping and harvesting, timing of farm chemical applications for effectiveness, type of crops planted and irrigation scheduling, among others. The volume and quality of timber extracted from a particular forest over a given period provide reliable insights into the local rates of deforestation and desirable remedial steps to sustain the resourcefulness of the forests, while information on the establishment and success of afforestation and reforestation projects provides a basis for measuring some aspects of physical environmental restoration and the sustainability of forestry activities in the country.

Environmental data are also useful as a measure of standard of living. For example, the availability of toilet and waste disposal facilities reflects the well-being or otherwise of the people in a particular area and suggests issues that may be of specific interest to the planner. Industrial activities, household chores and most informal sector operations also produce environmental statistics.

Environmental datasets are, therefore, wide in scope and several agencies are involved either directly or otherwise, in the production and/or collection of various elements of these datasets as can be found in other sectoral statistics stored by the National Bureau of Statistics. Agricultural dataset covers data on forestry and forest resources, crop production, livestock and wildlife. Meteorology statistics cover data on weather and climate and the Water Resources dataset compiles data on hydrological activities. The Federal Ministry of Works is responsible for the control of erosion, floods, ocean surges and other natural disasters, hence, its Engineering Services Department collects or is supposed to collect administrative data on the incidences of and areas affected by and lives and properties lost to these natural disasters. The Department of Forestry in the States produce administrative data on deforestation from details of the felling of logs for timber. These forestry departments and the National Parks Board are also responsible for producing sample survey-based data on endangered species of plants and animals.

In spite of the large volume of environmental-related statistics from these various sources, there are many other areas such as air pollution, effluent discharges from industries, water quality and waste disposal which are not currently taken care of significantly by any particular agency. It is with respect to these that environmental statistics are conceived in this document.

The body that should be responsible for this is the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA). FEPA has its Headquarters in Abuja and maintains seven (7) Zonal offices located in the different parts of the country. In addition, each State also has an Environmental Protection Commission (SEPCO), which are responsible to the State Governments, but also liaise with FEPA on various issues of the environment such as the establishment of the legal provisions for the performance of their functions.

The Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) emerged from the former Ministry of Works and Transport in 1988. The responsibility for the monitoring and management of several aspects of the environment was formerly with this Ministry. The Stockholm Conferences on environment in 1972, ignited the desire in Nigeria for serious environmental management. In 1975, a Division of Urban Development and Environment was created in the Federal Ministry of Economic Development to handle, among other things, pollution and other related industrial matters. The Division was later in the year to form part of the then newly created Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Environment. However, its status as a component of the administrative Division of the Ministry made it ineffective. To redress this situation, the Division was transformed in 1978 to the industrial Policy Planning Department of the Federal Ministry of Industry. Further re-organisation of Federal Ministries during the Second Republic, that is, 1979-1983, brought it to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing where it was renamed the Environmental Planning and Protection Division.

In 1981, a bill came before the Federal House of Representatives for the establishment of a Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA). Nothing came forth from