Environmental Management and Human Security: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Environmental Stressors and Security Outcomes in Nigeria

This dissertation develops a theoretically grounded and empirically tested analysis of the relationships between environmental stressors, environmental management responses, and human security outcomes in Nigeria, making original contributions to the environmental security literature and its application to governance in complex, multi-stressor developing country contexts. The relationship between environmental degradation and human security including food security, water security, livelihood security, and physical safety is increasingly recognised as a critical governance challenge in Nigeria, but the mechanisms through which environmental stressors translate into security outcomes, and the potential for environmental management interventions to interrupt these pathways, are not theoretically specified or empirically tested at the national scale. The dissertation develops an original Environmental Management-Human Security Nexus Framework that maps the causal chains from key Nigerian environmental stressors, including land degradation, water resource decline, forest loss, and pollution, through intermediate social, economic, and institutional variables, to five human security outcome dimensions, using theories of vulnerability, resilience, and institutional mediation to specify the mechanisms. Empirical testing employs a mixed-methods programme: a quantitative analysis of panel data from 150 LGAs covering environmental condition indicators and human security outcomes over ten years using structural equation modelling; a comparative case study analysis of eight subnational cases representing different combinations of environmental stress and governance response; and primary qualitative fieldwork in four high-stress communities exploring experienced human security consequences and community-level management responses. Original contributions include the framework, the LGA-level dataset, and an environmental management investment prioritisation model derived from the empirical analysis. Keywords: environmental security, human security, environmental management, Nigeria, governance.