Thesis Abstract

Abstract
The state of the Earth is a critical concern in today's world due to various environmental challenges and issues that are impacting the planet. Climate change, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, pollution, and resource depletion are some of the major problems facing the Earth. These issues are interlinked and pose significant risks to the health of the planet and its inhabitants. The impact of human activities on the Earth's climate is a major driver of global warming and climate change. The burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, industrial activities, and agricultural practices have led to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in changes to the Earth's climate system. Rising global temperatures, extreme weather events, melting ice caps, and rising sea levels are all evidence of the impact of human-induced climate change on the Earth. Deforestation is another critical issue that is contributing to the degradation of the Earth's ecosystems. The clearing of forests for agriculture, logging, and urban development is leading to habitat loss, biodiversity decline, and disruption of the Earth's natural balance. Deforestation also results in the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, further exacerbating climate change. Loss of biodiversity is a significant concern as well, with many species facing extinction due to habitat destruction, pollution, and climate change. Biodiversity is essential for the health of ecosystems and plays a crucial role in supporting human life through the provision of essential services such as clean air, water, food, and medicine. Pollution is a widespread problem that affects the Earth's air, water, and soil. Industrial activities, transportation, agriculture, and waste disposal all contribute to pollution, leading to adverse impacts on human health, wildlife, and the environment. Pollution also plays a role in climate change by releasing harmful chemicals and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Resource depletion is another issue that is placing strain on the Earth's natural resources. The growing global population and increasing consumption patterns are leading to the overexploitation of resources such as water, minerals, and energy sources. Sustainable management of resources is crucial to ensure their availability for future generations and to minimize environmental degradation. Addressing the state of the Earth requires global cooperation, innovative solutions, and sustainable practices to mitigate the impact of human activities on the planet. Efforts to combat climate change, protect biodiversity, reduce pollution, and promote resource conservation are essential to safeguard the Earth's future and ensure a healthy environment for all living beings.

Thesis Overview

Environmental issues are meant to be operationalized through the formulation of actor-specific environmental actions plans, which define priority action that will convert strategy into practice. The Environmental Planning and Management (EPM) process which is an increasingly popularized cans of solving the myriads of problems afflicting the environmental in contemporary world.

The study examines the use of Environmental Planning and Management (EPM) process as a strategy of solving environmental problems in Bonny Island, Rivers State, Nigeria by investigating the perception of the general public on the state of the environment in the area, level of participation of people in compliance to existing environmental strategies, causes of ineffective environmental management in the area and assessing community satisfaction with existing environmental management approach using well structured questionnaires administered to sampled households.

Questions were related to socio-economic characteristics of households, willingness to participate by the community in the EPM process, perceived level of environmental degradation in the area, level of compliance of oil and gas companies to environmental laws and the role of Government environment protection agencies in protecting the environment of the study area.

The results confirm that the level of damage from oil exploration, gas activities, pollution and pipeline vandalizations is chronic and cumulative, which has resulted to the degradation of the environment, routine of facilities and compliancy to environmental management approaches are not regular, facilities and equipment were found be grossly inadequate therefore proper inspection can not be well carried out, the community expressed dissatisfaction with the existing environment approach which they attributed to the inability of fully implementing the environmental approach, the community indicated that given the opportunity they are willing to participate in evolving an effective environmental management approach. Recommendations were made for the effective and efficient application of the EPM process in the study