For more than three decades, Nigeria's vast south-east coastal swamps have suffered ecological devastation. Countless oil spills due to oil exploration activities of multinational corporations have destroyed the biodiversity of the Niger delta, in particular. Farmlands drenched frequently in crude oil have lost their fertility, ruining the livelihoods of millions of farmers ( Down To Earth , Vol 4, No 14). Scores of exotic fishes and birds have become extinct.

While the swamps remain threatened, the floodplains of the north have also borne the brunt of the government's