“When wells dry up, children are the ones missing school to fetch water. When droughts diminish food supplies, children suffer from malnutrition and stunting. When floods hit, children fall ill from waterborne illnesses. And when water is not available in Nigerian communities, children cannot wash their hands to fight off diseases,”
Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria.
Introduction
Nigeria, home to over 200 million people, stands on the frontlines of climate change, with its children bearing the brunt of an escalating environmental emergency. These changing climate conditions came to a head in 2022 when Nigeria experienced its worst flooding in a decade, which affected over 3.2 million people across 33 states, claiming more than 600 lives and displacing 1.4 million between June and October alone. The country also grappled with unprecedented heat waves in February 2024, as temperatures soared past 40 °C, a condition that experts say was made 10 times more likely by human-caused climate change. This heat wave continued to rise, hitting a record-breaking 44.8°C in Sokoto on April 1, 2024. These changes have far-reaching consequences, destroying over 200,000 homes and 266,000 acres of farmland, resulting in the loss of crops that threaten food security and exacerbate malnutrition, particularly among children, as families face higher food prices and reduced access to nutritious food.
Nigeria’s Children: On the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis
According to UNICEF’s report, “The Climate Crisis is a Child Rights Crisis,” it is imperative that children be given special attention in the context of climate change. The Children’s Climate Risk Index, a comprehensive tool measuring children’s exposure and vulnerability to climate impacts, ranks Nigeria the second worst in the world with a score of 8.5 out of 10. This disturbing situation demonstrates the disproportionate impact that climate change is having on Nigerian children, who are highly vulnerable to environmental threats like coastal flooding and air pollution, which impact their health, nutrition, education, and access to water and sanitation.
Climate and environmental shocks threaten to erode progress on development goals and deepen existing inequalities. These climate-related challenges exacerbate other societal issues, potentially leading to increased gender-based violence, child marriage, and child labour.
The combination of climate change and existing socio-economic vulnerabilities, creates a perfect storm that threatens both the present well-being and prospects of Nigeria’s children, making it imperative to prioritise their needs in climate change strategies and interventions.
Effects of Climate Change on the Health of Nigerian Children
The changing climate and its associated risks have negative impacts on human health. In particular, the susceptibility and exposure of children to climate-induced hazards, and their low adaptive capabilities are not without consequences that can be lifelong for their health and general wellbeing. Nigeria is ranked the second-most vulnerable country worldwide in terms of children’s exposure to climate change, with over 110 million children confronting the harsh realities of rising temperatures, flooding, drought, and severe storms.
Health
Climate change has significantly impacted the health of Nigerian children. Intense storms, droughts, flooding, and rising temperatures are the biggest climate-related hazards to children in Nigeria and have led to increased physical dangers, waterborne diseases, and malnutrition. For instance, one in three children in Nigeria is exposed to severe food poverty due to poor food systems and climate shocks, making them up to 50% more likely to suffer from life-threatening malnutrition, such as wasting. Wasting refers to a low weight-for-height condition, that is indicative of recent and severe weight loss, caused by a person not having enough food to eat and/or a recent infectious disease that has led to severe weight loss.
Additionally, climate-related environmental disasters have displaced around 650,000 children between 2016 and 2021, exacerbating their vulnerability and disrupting their access to essential healthcare services. Severe flooding has heightened waterborne diseases, drowning, and malnutrition. Cases of diarrhoea, respiratory infections, cholera, malaria, and skin diseases have surged, with likely cases of epidemics in water systems, sanitation facilities, and public health. In regions with high oil production, flooding exposes children to chemical pollutants, contaminating water supplies and leading to respiratory diseases and dire health outcomes. Alarmingly, 78% of air pollution-related pneumonia deaths in Nigeria are among children under five, with indoor air pollution causing nearly 50,000 under-five deaths in 2019 alone.
Furthermore, rising temperatures intensify heat stress and diminish access to safe water and sanitation, while flood runoff introduces disease-carrying organisms into drinking water. Studies have stated that high temperatures can have a wide range of health impacts on human health, particularly pronounced in children. Severe heat is known to have ripple effects as, it can be uncomfortable for children’s learning, lead to poor quality of sleep, cause skin infections such as eczema, make young athletes at risk of heat stroke, make them more susceptible to anxiety, all of which may, in turn, make children vulnerable to poor mental health conditions.
Image source: Nigeria Health Watch
Nutrition
Climate change has severely impacted children’s nutrition in Nigeria, exacerbating existing challenges and creating new ones. Due to their dependence on carers and their undeveloped physiology, children are particularly vulnerable. Climate crises, conflict, and inequality have resulted in one in three children experiencing severe food poverty. Climate-induced droughts, floods, and extreme weather events have led to decreased agricultural productivity and increased food insecurity. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reports that Nigeria is expected to see about 26.5 million people grappling with high levels of food insecurity, with approximately 9 million children at risk of suffering from acute malnutrition or wasting. Of these, an alarming 2.6 million children could face Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and require critical nutrition treatment.
Climate change has also affected the quality of available food, reducing the nutrient content of crops due to increased CO2 levels. This phenomenon, known as “hidden hunger,” further compromises children’s nutritional status. Furthermore, climate-related displacement and economic stress on families have limited their access to diverse and nutritious diets. The World Food Programme estimates that 2.3 million children under five in Nigeria suffer from acute malnutrition annually, with only two out of every 10 children affected currently receiving treatment, a situation likely to worsen as climate change continues to disrupt food systems and livelihoods. This dire situation raises critical questions about how to build resilience in Nigeria’s food systems and implement targeted interventions to protect children’s nutritional well-being in the face of ongoing climate challenges.
Image Source: nigeria.savethechildren.net
Child Protection
Child protection challenges in Nigeria are mainly concerned with increased poverty, displacement, and migration due to flooding, drought, and desertification. Worsening poverty contributes to pre-existing child protection concerns and elicits new ones, such as family separation, child trafficking, and abduction. This could potentially push children into the worst forms of child labour. According to UNICEF, about 26.5 million Nigerian children are experiencing high or extremely high water vulnerability, often leading to displacement and increased protection risks. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reported that in 2022 alone, over 3.3 million people were displaced due to disasters in Nigeria, many of them children. This displacement increases children’s vulnerability to exploitation and abuse.
Image source: ARFH Nigeria
If necessary actions are not taken to address climate change and its impact on children in Nigeria, the future looks increasingly dire. By 2060, climate projections suggest that average temperatures in Nigeria could rise by 1.5°C to 2.5°C, potentially leading to more frequent and intense heatwaves, droughts, and floods. This could result in a significant increase in climate-related displacement, with internal climate migration reaching a high of 9.4 million by 2050, the second highest among West African countries after Niger. This figure will represent 2.18 percent of the projected 2050 population, at the high end of the pessimistic scenario, which combines high emissions with unequal development. Such large-scale displacement would likely lead to a surge in child protection issues, including increased rates of child labour, trafficking, and early marriage. The World Bank projects that climate change could push an additional 100 million people into poverty by 2030 globally, with a disproportionate impact on countries like Nigeria. This economic stress could force more families to resort to negative coping mechanisms that put children at risk. Furthermore, climate change is expected to increase the prevalence of vector-borne diseases like malaria, which already account for 60% of outpatient visits and 30% of hospitalisations among children under five in Nigeria. Without significant intervention, these health impacts could overwhelm an already strained healthcare system.
With the foregoing considered, there is a need for a robust climate response strategy that delivers Nigeria’s climate ambitions. In the section below, we present a conceptual approach to achieve this ambition.
The framework for addressing climate change challenges begins by aligning climate ambitions with national priorities. Nigeria has set ambitious targets, including a 20% emissions reduction by 2030 in its updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and a net-zero target by 2060 in its Energy Transition Plan (ETP). It’s crucial to align the priorities of both the NDCs and the ETP with the broader national economic and social priorities. This alignment ensures that climate action is intertwined with the overall national development plan and is not seen as a consequence.
Another conceptual approach of climate change as an opportunity rather than a challenge. An effective climate response strategy can stimulate investments in green technologies, sustainable agriculture, and clean energy, which present significant potential for job creation, economic growth, and improved quality of life. With this change in approach, Nigeria can simultaneously address climate concerns and increase economic productivity.
Finally, strategic policy design and implementation are key to realising these opportunities. Policies around climate-smart agriculture, resilient infrastructure, land and water management, will incentivise private and development sector investments. These policies should also mainstream the interests of women and youth, especially those in rural and peri-urban areas, in the economic opportunities that are created.
feature image source: The News Chronicle
