Environmental Education Programs for Discouraging Destruction of Aquatic Lives Among Kalabari People in Rivers State

Vollständiger Abstract

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This study examined environmental education programmes for discouraging destruction of aquatic lives among kalabari people in Rivers State, Nigeria. Three research objectives, and three null hypotheses were used for the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study consists of 522 community inhabitants, comprising 326 male and 196 female fisher folks that are members of registered fishing folk’s association in the study area. The entire population was used for the study through census approach without sampling because it was a manageable size. The instrument used for data collection was a close-ended structured questionnaire titled “Environmental Education Programmes for Discouraging Destruction of Aquatic Lives Questionnaire”. The instrument was validated by two experts from the Department of Adult Education and Community Development, and Measurement and Evaluation from Rivers State University. The reliability of the instrument was established using the Cronbach Alpha Method. A cumulative reliability coefficient of 0.83 was obtained. The responses from the three research questions were analysed with mean and standard deviation, while the six null hypotheses were tested with t-test statisticsat 0.05 level of significance. The findings from the study revealed among others that environmental education programmes such as environmental literacy, aquatic conservation education and agricultural extension education to a high extent discouraging destruction of aquatic lives among kalabari people in Rivers State. Based on the findings of the study, the study recommended among others that Rivers State Ministry of Education should integrate comprehensive environmental literacy into the formal school curriculum across the Kalabari region. This can be achieved by developing and distributing standardised teaching modules that connect core ecological principles to the local aquatic context, thereby fostering a foundational understanding of ecosystem interdependence from a young age.