How Politics impacts Climate Change Response
Today’s blog will focus on how climate change will impact and has already impacted Nigeria. It will also address the political difficulties of managing these changes and how conflict is likely to emerge and worsen.
No region in the world will be spared of the impacts of
climate change, but it’s the poorest regions of the world that will be
disproportionately impacted by this the most, such as Nigeria (Akpodiogaga-a
& Odjugo, 2017). The impact of climate change on Nigeria ranges from
increased drought, extreme weather events, famine, population displacement, and
increased diseases.
Research on how climate change has impacted Nigeria
determined that rainfall in Nigeria between 1901 and 2005 has declined and
within 105 years rainfall amount in the nation dropped by 81mm. The research
also shows that in this same time, Nigeria has also faced a sharp increase in
temperatures (Akpodiogaga-a
& Odjugo, 2017). This has led to frequent drought and desertification;
many rivers have dried up or become seasonal and Lake Chad has shrunk to a
point of almost disappearing (Akpodiogaga-a
& Odjugo, 2017). Impacts of drought and desertification have already
emerged, farmers in Nigeria are seeing their livestock die and cropland becomes
unsuitable for cultivation.
Whilst most of the country experiences drought and
desertification, coastal areas like Calabar, Warri and Brass are predicted to see increases in rainfall (Akpodiogaga-a
& Odjugo, 2017). This will exacerbate extreme weather events such as
flooding, an impact of this is already seen with extreme flooding devastating
Nigeria in 2022 which displaced more than 1.3 million people as 200,000 homes
were destroyed and left 600 dead (Khalid & Maishman,
2022). Another problem associated with flooding is sea-water intrusion into
freshwater sources. This will destroy mangrove ecosystems and coastal
wetlands, natural protection from flooding as well as worsening drought and
agriculture as water supplies become even more limited (Akpodiogaga-a
& Odjugo, 2017).
Increases in temperature will also lead to a northward
migration of mosquitoes and malaria fever, whilst water related diseases, such
as cholera, and respiratory diseases, such as asthma, are predicted to get
worse (Akpodiogaga-a
& Odjugo, 2017).
The main question is what should development planners do?
Experts recommend planners and policymakers encourage energy efficiency.
One such method, which is highly recommended, is to reduce oil and gas flaring and
extraction in the Niger Delta to an absolute minimum (Akpodiogaga-a
& Odjugo, 2017). This is where the political problems kick in.
Politicians in the government are dependent on or bribed by oil TNCs such as
Shell, including those involved in climate response and development.
Since policymakers and development planners are dependent on
the very instruments responsible for climate change it’s unlikely they’ll do
much to deter these worrying trends. This will unfortunately likely cause more
political strife. Already thousands of farmers are already dead as a result of
violence in the countryside due to the climate degradation of farmland (Mahr,
2019).
Hi! I really enjoyed this post. You comprehensively showed the variety of impacts that Nigeria has to face because of climate change. You highlighted the climate crisis in the country simultaneously impacts the environment and humans. This strengthened Ostrom's (2015) argument that the social and natural worlds cannot be separated. I also liked your suggestion for planners and their barriers to global profit interests. However, I think the technocratic approach focusing solely on energy efficiency is not enough; other measures like governance improvements should be taken.
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