Olalekan Adekola

• PhD; SFHEA
• Associate Professor at York St John University

Local communities within oil producing countries in Africa often face formidable environmental challenges that generate conflicts and concerns around exploitation, environmental impact, and health risks. A key feature of these concerns has been the paucity of effective risk communication mechanisms and the impact this has on the public understandin...

Increasing enrolment of Chinese students has become a key feature of internationalisation for Western universities, but there is limited research into how curriculum internationalisation affects Chinese students’ learning experiences. Using the typologies of curriculum internationalisation as a framework, this paper explores and compares how Scotti...

Oil spills occurring during exploration, production and distribution of crude oil cause disastrous impact on the environment. Frequent incidence of oil spills have wide ranging impacts resulting in contaminated streams and rivers, forest destruction, biodiversity and adverse impact on human health. Notwithstanding impact on ecosystem degradation an...

The Niger Delta wetlands are changing rapidly, raising concern for the wetlands' health and for communities relying upon its ecosystem services. Knowledge on ecosystem service provision is important for effective ecosystem and livelihoods management, but is currently lacking for the Niger Delta. We synthesised literature and used the ‘Drivers–press...

The development of green technology and carbon sequestration are greatly aided by soil microbiomes, which also present viable means of mitigating the effects of climate change. This chapter begins with an introduction to the significance of soil microbiomes in environmental sustainability. It then delves into the diverse and complex nature of soil...

Unprecedented global temperatures have brought the question of how to teach sensitive issues of climate change to the fore. In this paper we suggest that a refocusing on adaptation productively shifts the debate to climate justice and practical solutions to building community resilience. The paper examines a practice-led project that sought to inno...

Urban populations are rising globally, and more extreme climate events are occurring, which means more people are exposed to flood hazards such as pluvial, fluvial, coastal and compound floods. Cities located in flood-prone areas beside coasts, rivers, or both are at risk because such extreme events are often coupled with insufficient drainage capa...

The emergence of Extinction Rebellion (XR) in 2018 as a global movement led to the establishment of chapters all around the world. Much existing work has focused on cases located in the UK, Western Europe and the Anglosphere. This profile presents a case study of the formation of XR in The Gambia as an example of further diffusion of the movement....

Sustainable flood risk management (SFRM) has become popular since the 1980s. Many governmental and non-governmental organisations have been keen on implementing the SFRM strategies by integrating social, ecological, and economic themes into their flood risk management (FRM) practices. However, the justifications for SFRM are still somewhat embryoni...

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic has differentially affected the productivity of researchers from different backgrounds and showcase the factors that are responsible for these inequalities. Data for this study were collected using an electronic questionnaire via Qualtrics, distributed to researchers across Afric...

Abstract The collection and use of data on climate change and its impacts are crucial for effective climate adaptation and climate risk management. The revolution in internet access, technology and costs has led to a shift from using traditional paper‐based data collection to the use of Mobile Data Collection using Personal Digital Assistants (PDA)...

There is increasing research on the challenges experienced by Chinese international students during their studies in the UK such as language barriers, social interactions, academic achievement, and psychological adjustment. This study proposes to understand these challenges through a kindness approach. It explores how sixty-three Chinese Master’s s...

The impact of climate change on the aquaculture sector, which both supports livelihoods and is a source of nutrition in Kenya, is of concern. This study seeks to assess how stakeholders understand the impact of climate change on the aquaculture sector in Kenya, with a view to highlighting the steps needed towards enhancing the adaptation of aquacul...

Building resilience to climate-related hazards demands bringing together various knowledge sources and their associated institutional aspects. To promote an approach that enables public officers to embrace wider stakeholder engagements in building resilience to climate hazards, we explore current practices in two Nigerian cities—Makurdi and Calabar...

Sustainable flood risk management (SFRM) has become popular since the 1980s. Many governmental and non-governmental organisations have been keen on implementing the SFRM strategies by integrating social, ecological and economic themes into their flood risk management (FRM) practices. However, justifications for SFRM are still embryonic and it is no...

By the 2050s, more than 120 million people are predicted to settle in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), which covers large coastal cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Cities in the PRD are vitally important to China in relation to their socio-economic contributions. From recent evidence, this strongly urbanized area is vulnerable to, and c...

There is growing recognition that Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) (parklands, swales, ponds and green roofs, etc.) can reduce flood-risk and also benefit public health and improve environmental quality (air/water quality, biodiversity, etc.). Community engagement is critical to getting BGI implementation ‘right’ and producing more sustainable solut...

Purpose Employability is a key concept in higher education. Graduate employment rate is often used to assess the quality of university provision, despite that employability and employment are two different concepts. This paper will increase the understandings of graduate employability through interpreting its meaning and whose responsibility for gr...

Shipbreaking has great economic benefits but generates substantial hazardous materials as wastes to the surrounding environment of shipbreaking yards. Currently, a number of methods are exercised all over the world for breaking ships. However, ‘beaching method’ is of most concerns due to its nature of activities. A computer simulation has been carr...

The increasing demand for cities in developing societies to embed climate adaptation into policies and practices has implications for the governance system which mainly focus on governing by traditional hierarchical forms, and by network while neglecting other forms of governing. This raises fundamental questions concerning how governing arrangemen...

This paper explores the impact of intercultural awareness on students' interaction with peers in a UK university. Chinese Master's students and their peers from non-Chinese backgrounds are selected for the study to explore whether their experience of peer interaction is affected by their understanding of different culture and different approaches t...

The Hadejia Nguru Wetlands (HNWs) located in the Sahel zone of Nigeria support a wide range of biodiversity and livelihood activities. Providing strategic management information that aids understanding of the changing values of the wetlands is a key principle for their prudent use. This is even more important in a society where the value of wetland...

Provision of data and information for disaster risk reduction is increasingly important to enable resilience. However, the focus of provision in many African countries is limited to national scale risk assessment and meteorological data. The research aimed to consider the perspectives on availability and access to information of different local urb...

There is increasing research on the challenges that Chinese students experience during their time studying abroad, but limited studies have explored how they self-regulate their emotions to address these challenges. This paper identifies key stressors experienced by Chinese postgraduate students during their study in academic institutions in the Un...

A critical element of current flood management is the importance of engaging key policy actors when policy decisions are to be made. However, there is still only limited understanding of how narratives of flood management actors may influence flood management policies, even though there is a suggestion that actors can strategically use their narrat...

The shortage of good quality, affordable housing in the UK is well documented. Around 1 in 10 people in England live in a housing association home and those organisations have a vital role in helping to increase the supply of housing. In February 2017 the UK government highlighted innovative construction techniques as an important step towards buil...

Many people in Africa depend on water from borehole, but purity of the drinking water from this source remains questionable. In a bid to ascertain the health risk local people are exposed to, this study analyses the physico-chemical characteristics of borehole water in Gassol Local Government Area (LGA), Nigeria. For this purpose, water samples wer...

The objective of this paper is to assess the perceptions and determine the ability of farmers in rural Northern Nigeria to explain climate change, and to ascertain the socio-economic cost of climate change to them. The study also sought to understand how farmers have adapted to climate change and assess barriers to adaptation. The study is based on...

Worldwide emphasis has been placed on designing approaches with regard to the needs of sustainable development. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is one key agricultural development approach aimed at sustainably increasing productivity and resilience, while also reducing/removing emissions of greenhouse gases. Although many countries will be expected...

The Pearl River Delta (PRD) region has experienced rapid economic and population growth in the last three decades. The delta includes coastal megacities, such as Hong Kong. These low-lying urbanised coastal regions in the PRD are vulnerable to flood risks from unpredictable climatic conditions. These can result in increasing storm surges, rising se...

Intensive storms enhanced flooding is fast emerging as one of the biggest threats to urbanization in Asia. The need to manage this risk is critical for achieving a sustainable growth pattern. The authors study the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and propose a generic sustainable flood risk appraisal (SFRA) framework that can be used to benchmark flood risk...

Intensive storms enhanced flooding is fast emerging as one of the biggest threats to urbanization in Asia. The need to manage this risk is critical for achieving a sustainable growth pattern. The authors study the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and propose a generic sustainable flood risk appraisal (SFRA) framework that can be used to benchmark flood risk...

Rapid economic development and urbanisation has taken place in coastal regions along the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in cities such as Hong Kong and Shenzhen, as well as in a range of smaller settlements, which now all face potentially major impacts from flooding. A changing global climate is causing rising sea levels and more extreme rainfall events t...

Coastal megadeltas in Asia have emerged rapidly; their megacities are particularly stressed by urbanization and rapid population growth. In the Pearl River Delta, towns in coastal megacities, such as Hong Kong, experience severe land shortage, which has led to the installation of essential infrastructure in flood-prone areas. Floods from the storm...

This article analyses the current flood risk management practices in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), China. In the next four decades, 120 million people are expected to live in the region, which currently covers 11 major cities, and includes the coastal megacities formed by Hong Kong and Shenzhen. These populous low-lying coastal cities experience eme...

This article analyses the current flood risk management practices in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), China. In the next four decades, 120 million people are expected to live in the region, which currently covers 11 major cities, and includes the coastal megacities formed by Hong Kong and Shenzhen. These populous low-lying coastal cities experience eme...

Asia’s urbanized mega-deltas are experiencing increased incidences of flooding. Flood risk is increasing due to urban growth, which makes people more vulnerable and threatens economic assets, and due to factors that increase flood hazard, including reduced delta aggradation, subsidence though natural resource extraction, and climate change, includi...

This study investigates the chemical concentration of borehole water in Yola-Jimeta Metropolis so as to assess their suitability for domestic use. Water samples were collected from twenty-two boreholes, one sample from each of the twenty-two administrative wards (Wards are the lowest political units in Nigeria) in the metropolis. Samples were analy...

This article describes an assessment of the contribution of provisioning services provided by the Ga-Mampa wetland (1 km) to the livelihoods of local stakeholders, including monetary values for some services. The study used a combination of data collection approaches including a questionnaire survey, focus group discussions, key informant interview...

The beneficial ecosystem services provided by wetlands in Nigeria are continuously subjected to considerable stress that has consequences for human wellbeing. An understanding of the policies and legislation governing wetland can help enhance their management. Therefore, this paper reviews existing policies and legislation that affect management of...

Rapid economic development and urbanisation has taken place in coastal regions along the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in cities such as Hong Kong and Shenzhen, as well as in a range of smaller settlements, which now all face potentially major impacts from flooding. A changing global climate is causing rising sea levels and more extreme rainfall events t...

The size of the Ga-Mampa wetland (1 km2), in the Olifants River catchment in South Africa, was halved between 1996 and 2004. This jeopardizes the ecological integrity and influences the benefits people obtain from the wetland. This study therefore analysed the economic values of the provisioning services derived from the Ga-Mampa wetland and evalua...

The size of the Ga-Mampa wetland (1 km2), in the Olifants river catchment in South Africa, was halved between 1996 and 2004. This jeopardizes the ecological integrity and influences the benefits people obtain from the wetland. This study therefore analysed the economic values of the provisioning services derived from the Ga-Mampa wetland and evalua...