Nature Connectedness and Ecosystem Services Towards Urban Planning for Residents’ Health in the Metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Coker M.O.; Wahab W.B. Nature Connectedness and Ecosystem Services Towards Urban Planning for Residents’ Health in the Metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria Research Paper Nature Connectedness and Ecosystem Services Towards Urban Planning for Residents’ Health in the Metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria Mosunmola COKER, University if Ibadan, Nigeria Bolanle WAHAB, University if Ibadan, Nigeria Abstract In the urban context, nature is not entirely devoid of human influence or inaccessible to man, rather, nature exists in urban areas and does not only survive the influence of man but also depends on it. An individual’s subjective sense of their relationship with the places of nature within a city explains the concept of nature- connectedness. In the wake of rapid urbanization around the world, spaces of natural features in urban areas have been constantly overtaken by the developments and activities of man. There is a link between the number of ecosystem services provided by the mapped natural features and residents’ nature connectedness in the Lagos Metropolis. To understand this, spaces of natural features in the Lagos metropolis have to be examined with focus on how it is environmentally safe, how it improves human health and also the level of its accessibility to the residents. To improve health and well-being, there is need to strengthen the evidence of how nature affects health and promote preventative health contribution made by protected areas and elements of urban nature. Keywords Nature-Connectedness, Ecosystem Services, Urban Planning, Residents’ Health Coker M.O.; Wahab W.B. Nature Connectedness and Ecosystem Services Towards Urban Planning for Residents’ Health in the Metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria 1.0 INTRODUCTION Over the last few deCades, the intimate relationship between human and nature have been on a fast decline due to rapid urbanization all around the world (Hung, 2018). This deCline is partiCularly prevalent in Cities around the world where human imprints on the natural environment is massive, hence spaCes that are totally natural (that is, undisturbed and not altered by man) are not found in urban environments (Grimm & Schindler, 2018). However, spaces with elements of nature co-existing with non-natural features still abound in Cities. These spaCes with elements of nature have been Conceived in literature as blue and green spaCes (Abegunde 2011; Finlay et al., 2015; Haeffner et al., 2017). Green and blue spaCes, sometimes referred to as blue-green infrastruCture are important parts of the urban landsCape that demands the attention of urban planners (Brown & MijiC, 2019). These spaCes are integral parts of the City, partiCularly Coastal Cities around the world and as such requires spatial ordering for the purpose of Creating a functionally effiCient and aesthetiCally pleasing environment for living, working, circulation and recreation as captured in the definition of urban and regional planning (Olaitan, 2019). Unfortunately, the aCtions and aCtivities of man towards nature in the City are beComing increasingly unsustainable despite various Campaigns on sustainability (Paul et al., 2015). The benefits derivable from nature by the soCiety have been termed eCosystem services in literature (Daily 1997). These benefits inClude the provisioning of food, wood and mediCinal resources, and serviCes that contribute to climate stability, control of agricultural pests, and purification of air and water. Ecosystem services are broadly classified in four different categories: provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting (MA 2005). Provisioning eCosystem services include the contribution of essential goods such as food, fiber, and mediCinal. Regulating ecosystem serviCes inClude Carbon sequestration, prevention of soil erosion, and natural flood Control. Cultural eCosystem serviCes include intelleCtual, inspirational, and recreational activities. The fourth Category is supporting ecosystem serviCes, whiCh inClude serviCes that are dependent on ecologiCal proCesses suCh as primary produCtion and nutrient CyCling and that are intimately related to biologiCal diversity (Osvaldo et al., 2017). In order for man to utilize the benefits of nature, man is expeCted to interaCt with its elements using more of their senses to experienCe the physiCal and psyChologiCal benefits (FranCo et al., 2017), henCe, the ConCept of nature- connectedness. Coker M.O.; Wahab W.B. Nature Connectedness and Ecosystem Services Towards Urban Planning for Residents’ Health in the Metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria Nature - connectedness is an emerging psychological construct for a sustainable future. This construct has been desCribed as an individual’s trait level of feeling emotionally ConneCted to the natural world (RiChardson et al., 2019) or an individual’s subjeCtive sense of their relationship with the natural world. Various sCales of measuring the subjeCtive relationship of people with nature have been established in literature. These sCales of measuring nature - connectedness include the Connection to nature sCale (Mayer and Frantz, 2004), nature - relatedness sCale (Nisbet et al., 2009), inClusion of nature with self (SChultz, 2002), environmental identity (Clayton, 2003) and the ConneCtion to nature index (Cheng & Munroe, 2012). All these sCales of measuring nature ConneCtedness highlight the varying levels of relationships with nature that different individuals and groups possess. The contribution of nature to the state of human health is one of the benefits of the human-nature relationship. The two main Components of health status, that is, physiCal and mental health have been linked to nature ConneCtedness (Lumber, 2016; Kuo et al., 2018; RiChardson et al., 2019). ResearChers around the world have strongly asserted that individuals who often visit natural spaces and feel psyChologiCally connected to them report better physical and mental health (Officha et al., 2012; Alabi, 2020). In addition, individuals with psyChological ConneCtions to nature are more likely to Contribute to publiC health by behaving in ways that Contribute to environmental health through Conservation aCtivities and environmental proteCtion (University of Plymouth, 2020). In spite of these established relationships between nature and health, empiriCal data linking nature with physical and mental health are still limited, particularly in urban areas of developing Countries like Nigeria. Attaining healthy Cities and healthy urban dwellers remains a fundamental goal of urban and regional planning (Olaitan, 2019). The signifiCanCe of health among other goals of urban planning Cannot be overemphasized as health impaCts eConomiC performance and stability, social exClusion, and the implementation of loCal and national goals for sustainable development (BoyCe and Brown, 2019). The relationships between health and other national seCtors are bi-direCtional (Onisanwa, 2014) as failure in one sector such as the natural environment can lead to the outbreak of diseases and pandemic. For instance, man’s dysfunCtional relationship with the natural environment and/or urban eCosystem has been linked to the inCreasing emergenCe of diseases suCh as COVID 19, Ebola and Lyme diseases (Bloomfield et al., 2020). This is beCause nature provides buffers between humans and diseases; hence, a decline in natural features inCreases vulnerability to diseases (Quinney, 2020). This paper adopts an exploratory approaCh to examine Coker M.O.; Wahab W.B. Nature Connectedness and Ecosystem Services Towards Urban Planning for Residents’ Health in the Metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria the ConneCtions between the human health and the natural environment in an urban area from the purview of urban planning. 2.0 SPACES OF URBAN NATURE AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN LAGOS Human imprints on the natural environment are massive in Cities, henCe spaCes that are totally natural cannot be found in cities around the world (Grimm & Schindler, 2018). Spaces with elements of nature have been Conceived in literature as blue and green spaCes (Abegunde 2011; Haeffner et al., 2017). Green spaCes in the City inCludes open fields, woodlands, gardens (for urban agriculture & horticulture), sport grounds, green Corridors (landsCaped transport routes and streets with vegetated walls), and nature parks. Blue spaCes on the other hand include wetlands, waterways, waterfronts and beaChes. The general struCture of land use distribution in Lagos shows that only 520 heCtares (2.8%) of the total land area are open spaces (Abegunde, 2011). This inCludes all urban land for reCreation, parks and gardens, urban agriCultural land, CommerCial and individual horticultural garden, and unused spaCes (Oduwaye, 2006). This is far below the 8-10% of land area expected to be available for green space in an urban setting (Abegunde, 2011). Coker M.O.; Wahab W.B. Nature Connectedness and Ecosystem Services Towards Urban Planning for Residents’ Health in the Metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria Figure 1: Map of Nigeria showing Lagos state. Source: Ministry of Physical Planning In reCent times, Lagos state, one of the fastest growing Cities in the world witnessed a massive landsCaping and beautifiCation that has Changed the face of the megacity for the better (Ajewole et al., 2019). ). In spite of these efforts to promote greenery within Lagos State, the defiCit and abuse of open spaCes still abound within the state aCross the twenty loCal government areas of the state. Coker M.O.; Wahab W.B. Nature Connectedness and Ecosystem Services Towards Urban Planning for Residents’ Health in the Metropolitan