The UK Government, through the Department For International Development (DFID) and its civil society partner, Stakeholders Democracy Network (SDN), have partnered with the Ministry of Environment and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to launch an innovative gas flare tracker.
The tracker is an online map that displays a number of physical/geophysical GIS layers alongside satellite data on gas flares collected by the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Gas flaring occurs in the Niger Delta due to the burning of associated gas during the oil production process. This happens despite a context where Nigeria’s power supply is constrained by a lack of available gas. Gas flaring releases an estimated 17 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Existing Nigerian legislation aimed to see it abolished by 1984, yet the practice has continued unabated.
The Gas Flare tracker is a transparent system that provides data and insights that will help guide regulation, incentives and investment aimed at reducing gas flaring and its impacts.
The British High Commissioner, His Excellency Dr. Andrew Pocock CMG, welcomed the launch of this tool and called for closer UK-Nigeria cooperation on environmental work.
“The gas flare tracker shows everybody not just the environmental benefits of tackling gas flaring, but also the financial benefits. With so much to gain, we look forward to working further with Nigeria on this and other climate-related issues,” Pocock noted.
The tracker is delivered by a partnership between the Nigerian government and the SDN who are working with communities in the Niger Delta, while the project is funded by UK’s DFID. It can be accessed at:
