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Reviving the old data: The spatial environmental database development approach
 Taiwo Olalekan J. Head, Environmental Information Systems Dept. Environmental Resources Managers Ltd. Plot 107A Imam Abibu Adetoro St. Victoria Island, Lagos State., Nigeria. E-mail: Ltaiwo@erml.net
Background to the Project
The data under this project covered the area popularly referred to as Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Administratively, the data coverage spanned through seven (7) states out of the thirty-seven states that make up the federation called Nigeria (see Figure 1). The Niger Delta area is the home to many of the oil and gas companies that are engaging in the exploitation and exploration of the large reserves of hydrocarbon present in the country. The activities of these companies have resulted in wide spread environmental degradation and pollution in this fragile ecosystem (NDES, 1997; OPTS, 2001). The ecosystem in the area has been described as fragile because the dominant vegetation types are mangrove and fresh water swamp forests. In addition, the area is also blessed with numerous rivers and creeklets and in fact the area has one of the largest deltas in the world (NEDECO, 1961). Furthermore, the Niger Delta area has one of the largest population islands in the country as the area has over three thousand five hundred autonomous communities. Due to the sensitive nature of this area therefore, adequate consideration for both the environment and the people have to be put in place in order to ensure the sustainable exploitation and exploration of the vast oil resources available in the area (NDES, 1997; NEST 1991). In order to protect the environment and the people living in the oil prospecting areas, the Federal Government enacted various decrees and laws that guide the operation and activities of the oil and gas companies. The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Federal Ministry of Environment (FMEEnv.) are the two parastatals of government that are responsible for the monitoring of the environmental compliance of the various activities of the oil companies in the Nigeria. While the DPR makes regulations for the prevention of the pollution of water resources and the atmosphere by the oil and gas operations in general (DPR, 1991), FMEEnv makes regulations to cover not only oil and gas operations but also industries such as brewery, wood and wood processing, food, tannery, metal mining etc. They serve as an environmental watchdog for all the oil company activities starting from the prospecting phase through exploration and even to the distribution phase.
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