Environmental Effect of Fire on Waste Plant and the Nearby Aquatic Ecosystem; The Case Study is Uyo Village Road in Akwa Ibom State
Chapter One
Aim and objective of the research
This research aims to environmental effect of fire on waste plant and the nearby aquatic ecosystem, the case study is Uyo village road in Akwa Ibom state. The objectives of this thesis are to:
- Provide an understanding of how the identified main source leads to fire at Uyo Village
- Evaluate how environmental fire affects waste plants
- Examine the impact of environmental fire on the aquatic ecosystem
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents information about waste management, fire in waste facilities, risk management, and risk assessment techniques. The information presented in this chapter has been used to conduct the analyses in this research.
Conceptual Review
Fire
Fires are natural disturbances and agents of landscape change that have various effects across various spatial scales. Perceptions of the consequences of fire are closely tied to human values (Langston 1995). For example, the use of fire distinguishes humans from other animal species, enhances nutritional food value, and promotes the expansion of valued plant and animal resources. Fire also was an integral driver of the invention and adoption of tools, other technological innovations, and, ultimately, the industrialisation and urbanisation of human societies, creating the modern world we know today (Pyne 2012). In contrast, humans generally view uncontrolled fire as harmful and destructive of natural vegetation, property, and life. However, from an ecological perspective, fires have structured many ecosystems with resilient successional trajectories (Pyne et al. 1996, Gresswell 1999, Bowman et al. 2009). Fire management and policy tend to be focused on protecting human property and life and on protecting or salvaging the economic value of terrestrial resources, such as timber, but fire also affects freshwater resources, habitats, and biodiversity. Given the critical importance of water resources to human populations and natural communities globally, a thorough understanding of the effects of fire on water resources is increasingly important for guiding fire management practices and policy decisions. Some short-term effects of fire on freshwater ecosystems can be similar to the effects of landuse changes (e.g., agricultural and urban development and logging), but fire is a pulsed disturbance, and the duration of its effects on freshwater ecosystems depends on terrestrial ecosystem recovery. In contrast, landuse changes constitute a press disturbance with more permanent effects (Allan 2004, Wootton 2012, Verkaik et al. 2013). The purpose of this special series of articles is to illustrate the importance and complexities of fire as a prime driver of change in the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of freshwater habitats in different geographic regions and biomes (Fig. 1). Given the projected effects of climate change on fire frequency and intensity (Knowles et al. 2006, Seager et al. 2007, Pausas and Fernández-Muñoz 2011, Westerling et al. 2011), argue that the focus on the effects of fire on freshwater ecosystems is timely.
Most previous work on the effects of fire on freshwater ecosystems has concentrated on wildfire effects on the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of forested, montane streams and wetlands in the western USA (Gresswell 1999, Pilliod et al. 2003, Rieman et al. 2003). Authors of articles in this special series expand on these topics by considering fire effects on a variety of organisms (ranging from algae and riparian vegetation to spiders and fish) and processes (including microclimate, hydrology, and biogeochemistry; nutrient inputs, uptake, and limitation; and subsidies between terrestrial–aquatic habitats and tributary–mainstem systems). These organismal and process studies were done across a wide array of geographic areas (North America, Europe, Australia, Asia), biomes (boreal forest, Mediterranean shrublands, tropical savanna, temperate, tropical, and semitropical wetlands and forests), and habitats (rivers, riparian zones, lakes, wetlands).
Previous work has focused on the effects of fire on state variables, but a number of authors in this series concentrated on effects of fire on ecosystem processes or rate variables, including nutrient uptake (Diemer et al. 2015), nutrient limitation (Klose et al. 2015), leaf decomposition (Rodríguez-Lozano et al. 2015), subsidies from river tributaries to river main stems (Harris et al. 2015), and subsidies from streams to riparian zones (Jackson and Sullivan 2015). This special series was developed in conjunction with a special symposium held at the Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting in Portland, Oregon, in May 2014. The articles collectively emphasise the pervasive influence of fire on the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems throughout the world and underscore the importance of considering effects of fire on freshwater systems when furthering our knowledge of drivers of ecosystem change and when guiding or developing effective natural resource management practices and policies.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the method with which the researcher intends to carry out the study. It deals with the research design, the population of the study, sampling technique, sample size, research instrument, the instrument’s validation and reliability, the procedure for the collection of data, and the method for analysing data.
Research Design
This study adopted a survey research design. The design aims at analysing and explaining the environmental effect of fire on waste plants and the nearby aquatic ecosystem, the case study is Uyo village road in Akwa Ibom state through the collection of data at only one point in time without the researcher’s influences in the process. This enabled the researcher to ascertain the effect between and among the study variables: health care financing (independent) and health care delivery (dependent). This study method has been used by researchers such as Ardnt, Grewe and Unger (2018); Brito and Costa (2009); Fernandez, LeRoy and Gnyawali, (2014) in similar research.
Population
The study was conducted in Oron Local Government Area in Akwa-Ibom State. The Local Government area was chosen because it is a riverine area and serves a better purpose for this study. The Local government has a total population of 1.407 million people as at 2015 (Wikipedia, 2021).
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS
This chapter comprises data analysis, findings and interpretation. Results are presented in tables and diagrams. The analyzed data was arranged under themes that reflect the research objectives.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY CONCLSUION AND RECOMMENDATION
Summary
The principals and experts at Uyo Village have accepted the fact that fires that are ignited by the hazardous waste in the waste grinder cannot be prevented. Yet, various measures can be implemented to reduce the number of fire incidents due to hazardous waste in the grinder at Uyo Village. Similarly, eliminating the root causes of hazardous waste in the waste grinder seems to be extremely difficult. Thus, this section aims to provide a number of suggestions to help to reduce the fire incidents at Uyo Village occurring due to the identified root causes. The suggested measures are based on the information obtained from brainstorming and interview sessions, meetings, inspections, and surveys presenting the suggested measures for each identified root cause.
Decisions which have an effect on future generations require a different kind of consideration from immediate concerns. The largest wildfires in history have been over the last decade and are fueled by drought, disease, hotter temperatures, and forest management techniques. This problem is made up of both environmental factors and management decisions and changes in population locations that in combination are resulting in large challenges for the current generation. Large forest fires leave damage on the environment as it burns down trees, produces effluents, and kills lives of plants, insects and animals, however opposed to small fires is the temperatures at which larger fires burn. The hotter temperatures cause much more of the soil to be burned causing sterility in the top layer and limits the ability for new growth. The results might not lead to an immediate negative influence, but the releases of toxic materials and physical change of the land could cause harm in the future. A large loss of species could lead to change in an ecosystem, which could lead to a potential damage on the environment. It is difficult to assess the risks to future generation without considering possible social changes as well as the operation of physical and biological processes over the long term.
The trend for larger fires in recent years has caused forest managers to evaluate how they protect their forests. One major hazard is the amount of fuel loading that has accumulated because of the suppression of health fires. Now and in the future it is expected that more thinning and prescribed burns will be conducted to get the forest and its fuel load at a healthy level. Additionally there have been a number of studies of the wildland-urban interface (WUI), which has resulted in greater compliance with WUI best-practices in wildland affected areas, like Oregon.
Conclusion
This thesis has highlighted the rates of baseline forest cover lost, cluster-level deforestation estimates and spatial pattern of deforestation hot spots in Nigeria. The study also evaluated the relationship between rainfall and phenology across four forest clusters, highlighting the fact that forest phenology closely follows with spatial and temporal patterns in rainfall seasonality in savanna than rainforest zones of Nigeria.. Though deforestation hotspots are more concentrated in the rainforest zone, the rate of forest loss in relation to other landcover is higher in the savanna forest cluster (especially Uyo). At cluster level, the primary data that describes deforestation spatial trend have been shown to be soil spectra derived from the unmixing forest pixels, highlighting the need for more in-depth research at country scale.. Therefore, this research provides a starting point for future work on the dynamics of forest transition to other land cover types in Nigeria. In conclusion, the threat posed by forest loss in Nigeria may have large-scale implications not only on climate but also on vulnerable human populations exposed to the resultant impacts. It will be good if deforestation control legislation are implemented in order to mitigate the potential of forest loss on climate and human wellbeing. However, adaptation measure must be pursued in terms of establishing regional monitoring schemes in each of the major forest cluster. These measures, together, would ensure a better planning not only for the ‘health’ of the forest but also mitigation needs as streamlined in REED
Recommendations
The study therefore concludes by recommending that the state and local governments need to improve the level of community preparedness against fire outbreak by providing adequate community fire safety apparatus. Moreover, there is need to enlighten the residents on fire safety, prevention and management strategies which is believed to go a long way to assisting the communities build a strong and permanent firefighting mechanism in the study area. Efforts geared towards implementing the recommendations of the study go a long way to achieving laudable milestones in the areas of goals #11, i.e. making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
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