Nigeria is gravely at risk from climate change

Ini Ekott in 234Next.com: A Canadian government-backed Nigerian research team on climate change, on Wednesday, announced the start of studies that will reveal the level of awareness of rural Nigerians of issues pertaining to climate change and how they should adapt to the variations in the years ahead.

The Building Nigeria's Response to Climate Change project, which is implemented by the Nigeria Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST), in Ibadan, awarded about N10 million contracts to some Nigerian researchers to work on the project.

Ahead of the December 2009 International Conference on Climate Change holding at Copenhagen, Denmark, Nigeria is yet to develop a national adaptation policy to the issue which experts say will severely affect the country. The studies, sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), are expected to assist in developing such a policy.

"Nigerians need to be aware of climate change; the options for adaptations and the types of adaptations," said David Okali, the chairman of the team. "To do these would be difficult without knowing the facts." Four research projects and five pilot projects, to be carried out by Nigerian researchers, are to be conducted up to 2011, Mr. Okali revealed.

The group said pilot projects are being undertaken across the three agro-ecological zones of Nigeria, mostly the Coastal and Rain Forest zones in the South, the Nigeria Sahel and northern Savannah. The projects will test local adaptation strategies that include finding alternatives to deforestation, controlling erosion, conserving water and developing long term community adaptation plans….

A satellite image of a dust storm near Lake Chad (with Nigeria on the southwestern shore), from NASA