To Demonstrate Potential of GIS in Environmental Impact Assessment for Oil Spill Disaster Management.

Abstract

The overall aim of this study was to evaluate the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) tools for oil spill disaster magement as vital input required for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in the Niger delta. To accomplish the aim, a geospatial database was created using a variety of primary and secondary datasets such as GPS locations of oil spill sites across Bodo community, an oil spill prone location in Rivers state and soil sample contamination data across Ogoniland. The data layers contained in the geodatabase were used to produce map outputs for decision making through the forms of maps and query results. Overall, the study has demonstrated the benefits of utilising GIS tools for managing environmentally related data, particularly oil spill disasters as inputs for effecticient delivery of EIA projects.