Oil wealth enriches Nigeria, but it has not improved the lives of the majority of the masses living in the oil-bearing areas of the Niger Delta. Niger Delta region has been exposed to environmental risks that have caused many to lose their means of livelihood, triggering high level of poverty in the region. This study examines the impact of oil-related environmental problems and how it has induced human displacement in the Niger Delta. Furthermore, it examined the efficacy of the Nigerian environmental policies as it related to the oil-bearing areas. The research found that oil activities have caused more harm than good in the Niger Delta. At present, the oil-bearing areas remain marginalized from the mainstream economic, social, and political activities in Nigeria. The Nigerian government’s top-down approach to the development of the oil-bearing areas has not been people-centered and participatory. The paper also made some viable recommendations.

Coastal areas are vulnerable to different natural hazards, including hurricanes, cyclones, tsunami, floods, coastal erosion, and saltwater intrusion. These hazards cause extensive social, ecological, economic, and human losses. Continued climate change and sea-level rise is expected to substantially impact the people living in coastal areas. Sea level rise poses serious threats for the people living in the coastal zone, which leads to coastal erosion, inundations in the low-lying areas, tidal water encroachment and subsequent salt-water intrusion, as well as the displacement of the people living along the coast. Coastal erosion is one of the biggest environmental threats in the coastal areas globally. In Bangladesh, coastal erosion is a regularly occurring and major destructive process, impacting both human and ecological systems at sea level. The Lower Meghna estuary, located in southern Bangladesh, is among the most vulnerable landscapes in the world to the impacts of coastal erosion. Erosion causes population displacement, loss of productive land area, loss of infrastructure and communication systems, and, most importantly, household livelihoods. For a lower middle-class country, such as Bangladesh, with limited internal resources, it is hard to cope with catastrophic natural hazards, such as coastal erosion and its related consequences. This research aims to advance the scientific understanding of past and future coastal erosion risk and associated changes in land change and land cover using geospatial analysis techniques. It also aims to understand the patterns and drivers of human perception of coastal erosion risk. To place the research questions and objectives in content, Chapter 1 includes a brief introduction and literature review of the coastal erosion context in Bangladesh. Chapter 2 assesses different methods of prediction to investigate the performance of future shoreline position predictions by quantifying how prediction performance varies depending on the time depths of input historical shoreline data and the time horizons of predicted shorelines. Chapter 3 evaluates historical land loss and how well predicted shorelines predict amounts of succeeding LULC resources lost to erosion. Chapter 4 focuses on the patterns and drivers of erosion risk perception using data from spatially explicit measures of coastal erosion risk derived from satellite imagery and a random sample survey of residents living in the coastal communities. In summary, this research advances our scientific understanding of past and future coastal erosion risk and associated changes in land change and land cover using geospatial analysis techniques. It also enhances the understanding of the patterns and drivers of human perception of coastal erosion risk by combining satellite imagery and social survey data. Compared to much of the coastal erosion literature, this work draws from a 35-year time series of satellite-derived shorelines at annual temporal resolution. This time depth enables us to employ a temporal design strategy expected to yield a robust characterization of space-time erosion patterns. This study also enabled us to assess how well predicted shorelines predict amounts of succeeding LULC resources lost to erosion by using long-term historical data. The innovative we use has potential applications to other deltas and vulnerable shorelines globally. While empirical results are specific to the project's study area, results can inform the region's shoreline forecasting ability and associated mitigation and adaptation strategies. / Doctor of Philosophy / Coastal erosion is a global problem. Coastal Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of erosion in the world. Erosion causes population displacement, loss of productive land area, loss of infrastructure and communication systems, and, most importantly, household livelihoods. With an aim to advance our understanding of coastal erosion hazard, this study assessed past and future coastal erosion risk and associated changes in land change and land cover and human risk perceptions using different geospatial and statistical analysis techniques. First, different methods of coastal erosion prediction were evaluated to investigate the performance of future shoreline position predictions. Second, the historical land loss was estimated and how well predicted shorelines predict amounts of succeeding LULC resources lost to erosion were assessed. Finally, the patterns and drivers of human perception of coastal erosion risk were explored.

Studies have shown that climate change causes large scale human displacement. With this as background this thesis investigates the connection between climate change and immigration/asylum in EU documents. The EU is an institution that has not acknowledged the existence of climate change induced migration despite outside awareness that the phenomenon exists. This thesis analyzes discourses about climate change and immigration/asylum in the EU in order to find out how EU regards climate change induced migrants, and why it has not acknowledged their existence or provides protection. The thesis found that discourses of inclusion and exclusion based on European ethnicity and culture restricts possibilities for migrants from developing countries to come to Europe. It also found that EU represents its strategy to fight climate change as comprehensive and leaves no room for changes in that strategy. These two findings in combination explain why climate change induced migrants are not acknowledged, and in extension do not get protection from the EU. The research found that the absence of an acknowledgement and protection for climate change induced migrants is influenced by political discourses in the EU that see unskilled immigrants from developing countries as a threat and danger to Europe and its current climate change strategy as sufficient for coping with the effects of climate change.