Climate change is one of the biggest threats to humanity in the 21st century and is a major contributor to livelihood failures in sub-Saharan Africa. The climate crisis in Nigeria is leaving debilitating effects on the people’s livelihood and survival and the worst affected communities are those of Northeastern subregion of Nigeria. In this area, the most pronounced impact of climate change is the exacerbation of food insecurity since the economy of this region depends solely on agriculture, accounting for up to 70% of the livelihoods.
This makes the subregion a ‘vulnerability hotspot for climate variability and change impact’. The unpredictability of weather conditions leading to drought and low farm yields have fueled the rift between farming communities and herders in search of pastures for their flock who end up destroying the farms of the local community dwellers. Also, climate change has led to forced migration from drought-affected and flood-prone communities, causing people to move to safer and more productive locations, thereby overstretching the resources in those areas and disconnecting many from their ancestral land.
It was in the effort to find a workable mitigation for the devastating effects of climate change in the North East subregion that the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) organised a two-day summit in Gombe, bringing together, experts and other relevant stakeholders to discuss the situation and fashion out areas of interventions with the the.
