Urbanization and Environmental Unsustainability: An Ecological Footprint Analysis for Nigeria

The earth’s limited natural resources and assimilation capacity, coupled with increased production and consumption activities of a rapidly growing population, has made the global environment unsustainable. This study therefore analyses the empirical relationship between urbanization and environmental unsustainability in Nigeria by employing the ecological deficit obtained from the ecological footprint as a measure of environmental unsustainability. The study contributes to empirical literature on the subject matter by employing the STIRPAT model as against the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model employed by most studies for Nigeria. Secondly, the study differs from others that used carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) as a measure of sustainability (unsustainability) of the environment by employing the difference between biocapacity per capita and ecological footprint per capita, otherwise regarded as ecological surplus (deficit), as a measure of environmental sustainability (unsustainability). Time series data spanning from 1981 to 2019 was used and the STIRPAT framework was adopted. Autoregressive Distributed Lag Technique of estimation was employed for the long- and short-run estimates, while the results were validated with the Dynamic Ordinary Least Square Technique (DOLS) as well as the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square Technique (FMOLS). Short- and long-run results revealed that urbanization significantly has negative effects on environmental unsustainability. However, the working population has a positive effect on environmental unsustainability in the long run. In the short run, per capita income and the working population have positive effects on environmental unsustainability. The study therefore recommends responsible consumption and production activities that will improve environmental quality.