Assessing Carbon Footprints of Students in University of Agriculture Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the carbon footprints of students in the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria, to determine the amount of carbon generated from unaccounted sources. The study was carried out in March, 2016, in 3 out of 10 Colleges in the University, purposively selected to involve students studying Forestry, Fisheries and Agricultural based disciplines within the North-Core of the University. The online carbon footprint calculator developed by World Wide Fund for nature (WWF), was used for the assessment. The calculator had well-structured questions to track carbon footprints generated by each student’s activities through food consumption, home, travel and stuff. Results obtained were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics and compared with the planet global average of 3.06 tonnes. College of Forestry and Fisheries had the highest carbon footprints of 665.0 tonnes, representing 35% of carbon expenditure in the Colleges. College of Agricultural Economics and Extension had the lowest carbon footprints of 602.40 tonnes. Among the Departments, Animal production had the highest footprints of 339.60 tonnes while Department of Agricultural Extension recorded the lowest footprints of 293.6 tonnes. 400 level students generated the highest carbon footprints of 675.90 tonnes while 300 level students produced the lowest footprint of 620.8 tonnes. The students surveyed in this study showed high carbon footprints in their food consumption, travel and home activities; requiring more planets to live if everyone else in the world adopted their lifestyles. It is therefore recommended that creation of awareness on the impacts of carbon footprints and its reduction strategies be carried out to enable them adopt lifestyles that could help them live within the limits of our only planet, the earth.