Atlantic and Indian Oceans Pollution in Africa and Its Impacts from Marine and Coastal Ecology

Babagana Abubakar¹ and Babagana Rufai^2
1Research and Administration, Kanuri Development Association, Maiduguri, Nigeria
²Geology, Borno State Water Cooperation, Maiduguri, Nigeria

Africa is the second largest and most populated continent after Asia. Geographically it is located between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Most of the Africa’s most populated and industrialized cities are located along the coast of the continent facing the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, example of such cities include Casablanca, Dakar, Accra, Lagos, Luanda and Cape town all facing the Atlantic Ocean and cities like East London, Durban, Maputo, Dar-es-salaam and Mogadishu are all facing the Indian Ocean.

As a result of the geographical locations of African Coastal Cities plus increase in their population, industries, sea port operations, petroleum exploration activities, trafficking of toxic wastes and improper waste management culture lead to the incessant increase in the pollution of the two oceans.

Nature of Pollution of the Atlantic Ocean

i. The petroleum exploration activities going on along the coast of “Gulf of Guinea” region and Angola continuously causes oil spillages in the process of drilling, bunkering and discharging of petroleum products in the Atlantic Ocean.

ii. The incessant degreasing of the Sea Ports “Quay Aprons” along the Coastal cities of Lagos, Luanda, Cape Town etc are continuously polluting the Atlantic Ocean with chemicals.

iii. Local wastes generated from the houses located in the coastal cities are always finding their ways into the Atlantic Ocean.

Nature of Pollution of the Indian Ocean

i. Unlike the Atlantic Ocean where petroleum is the major pollutant, the Indian Ocean is polluted by Toxic / Radioactive waste suspected to have been coming from the developed nations as reported by the United Nations Environmental Programme after the Tsunami disaster in December 2004 especially along the coast of Somalia.

ii. The degreasing of the Quay Aprons at Port Elizabeth, Maputo, Dar-es-Salaam and Mongolism Sea Ports are also another major source polluting the Indian Ocean.

Presentation GEO India Expo XXI, Noida, New Delhi, India 2008©AAPG Search and Discovery