Integrated coastal zone management has not been practiced in Nigeria, but there are many coastal management practices that take place along the coastline. At the Convention for Co-operation in the Protection and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the West and Central Africa Region (also known as the Abidjan Convention) in 1981, its protocols was adopted and Nigeria is one of the 14 countries that ratified the protocols (UNEP, 1981). The Abidjan convention recognised the environmental uniqueness and natural resources as well as the threats and necessity of action in the marine and coastal environment of the West African region which led to
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the formulation of an Action Plan to protect and develop the region‘s marine and coastal environment (UNEP, 1981).
Nigeria, following the Abidjan convention has embarked on a comprehensive assessment of the status of the Nigeria coastal zone (UNEP, 2002). The report was able to identify the major problems of the Nigerian coast and they are overexploitation of fisheries; coastal and marine pollution; oil spills; coastal erosion and flooding; physical modification and destruction of habitats; climate change and sea level rise, and invasive species. Recommendations of urgent actions needed to mitigate the listed problems were made. Among them include: monitoring of coastal and marine processes for integrated management of degraded ecosystems, mitigating coastal erosion using environmentally friendly options, development of national climate change plan of action, and coastal protection from flooding and erosion resulting from sea level rise (UNEP, 2002).
Various government bodies have been set up to tackle coastal problems in Nigeria. In the amended constitution of 1984, three tiers of government – Federal, State, and Local - exist in Nigeria and they are allowed within a certain amount of power to make legislation, laws, and edicts on the environment. Apart from these, other agencies are involved in activities that aim to deliver a sustainable coast. A joint Ministerial committee was set up by the Federal Government to coordinate the activities of these agencies through consultations. There are national, states, and local government legislations and edicts designed to guarantee sustainable management of the coast. The Federal Ministry of Environment has a national jurisdiction for all environmental issues.
It has also produced the National Policy of Environment. The policy‘s objective include
―securing a quality environment; conserving and using natural resources for the benefit
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of the present and future generations; restoring, maintaining and enhancing ecosystems and ecological processes‖; raising public awareness and promoting understanding of the essential linkages between environment and development; and liaising with other countries and international organisations and agencies to achieve the stated objectives (UNEP, 2002).
Despite some legislative attempts to conserve the Nigerian coastal and marine area, there have not been strategic actions to the preservation and sustainability of the coast.
It could be argued that there are inadequate laws; inadequacies in government policies and lapses in responsibilities; poor database, poor awareness and communication which limits the flow of information and the ability of stakeholders to participate fully in sustaining the coast. ICZM by its attribute is what is needed to ensure a sustainable coast. The United States enacted the Coastal Zone Management Act, and in the UK the Marine Bill is enacted which put into consideration largely the fundamentals of ICZM.
There is no ICZM act in Nigeria, except for the piecemeal and sectoral approaches, which have limited sustainability potentials. However, sequel to the Lagos flood in July 2011, the House of Representatives of Nigeria has urged the President to assent to the National Climate Change Bill passed by the Nation Assembly in 2010 (Nzeshi, 2011).
Even though, there have been interests all over Africa with regards to an integrated system of coastal management, Nigeria is yet to develop and adopt ICZM as a solution to the marine and coastal problems. The various interests are seen in the various conferences and agreements made. Examples of some of them include
the Arusha Conference on ICM in Eastern Africa, held in Tanzania in April 1993;
the Seychelles Workshop on ICM in February 1995;
the Abidjan and Nairobi Conventions on ICM;
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the Pan-African Conference on Sustainable Integrated Coastal Management (PACSICOM), held in Maputo in July 1998; and
the Conference on ‗Cooperation for Development and Protection of the Marine
and Coastal Environment in Sub-Saharan Africa‘, held in Cape Town, South Africa, in December 1998 under the sponsorship of the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
At the last-named conference, 30 Sub-Saharan African countries were represented, 27 of them at the ministerial level (Hewawasam, 2002).
The development of ICZM in Nigeria could seem like a daunting task, as major issues need addressing. Firstly, the acceptance that a single-sector approach or any form of sectoral approach cannot address the multi-sectoral identified issues of the coast.
Secondly, there needs to be the availability of adequate institutional and human capacity;
bridging of knowledge gaps through the application of necessary information acquisition technique and its sharing to advance knowledge; application of ecosystem approach to coastal sustainability, and a wider scope and provision of funding for immediate and long term goals (Hewawasam, 2002).
Information is critical to the development of any ICZM plan especially when planning is to be made for long-term situations. For example, the phenomenon of rising sea levels which is a major element of this study. This study estimates the impacts rising seas will have on the Nigerian coast with the aim of it being an information base/data that can be worked with on a large scale. There should therefore be planning for data management and archiving at the national level of government. The important issues to consider in
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data management include, the volume of data; quality control and assessment mechanism of data to ensure its correctness and reliability; consistency and integrity of the data; clear procedures for updating the data; availability of documentation and metadata; access options for the data; backup of data; and long-term data archival (Masalu, 2008).
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