Welcome
The coastal region of Nigeria has some of the largest cities in the country with a total population of over 15 million. Having a coastline of approximately 853km, the area has a dynamic ecosystem with a wide variety of flora and fauna and it comprises of four ecological zones of coastal barrier islands, mangroves, freshwater swamp forests, and lowland rainforests. The region also hosts the largest wetland in Africa and is the third-largest mangrove forest in the world.
This unique and fragile ecology is continuously faced with numerous problems emanating from both natural processes and anthropogenic activities. Currently there is an on-going crisis in certain parts of the region partly due to environmental degradation and attendant socio-economic deprivation suffered by its inhabitants. This has attracted attention at both national and global levels with various institutions and developmental initiatives established by the government and non-governmental actors.
In light of this, there are on-going research projects focusing specifically on the environmental and socio-economic issues in the region. This conference intends to provide a forum for researchers to present, exchange ideas and contribute towards pooling together the vast wealth of insight and information generated by these research activities, and make them readily available to policy makers and other stakeholders actively involved in seeking solutions to the environmental problems in the area.
