Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses the vulnerabilities of rural areas of Northern Nigeria to climate change.It further examines how climate change drives insecurity in the rural areas of Northern Nigeria and the impacts of insecurity and conflicts in worsening existing development challenges in the rural areas.

Paper long abstract:

Climate change is considered one of the contemporary challenges to security and development across the world. The African continent is the most vulnerable to the devastating impacts of climate change despite its relatively low contribution to the gas emissions. Nigeria has also faced the impact of climate change in forms of droughts, floods, heatwaves, desertification and wildfires at intensified levels. These changes are worst for the rural areas whose source of livelihood largely depends on agricultural activities that are weather sensitive like rearing of crops, herding and fishing. In Northern Nigeria, rural areas are the major producers of both food and livestock for individuals living in both rural and urban centers. However, the inability of the rural areas to adapt to climate change has displaced thousands of people, intensified competition for scarce resources like water and arable land, increased poverty and escalated conflicts and ultimately deepening underdevelopment. This paper posits that in rural areas of northern Nigeria, climate change, remains a key driver of food and human insecurity manifesting in conflicts like farmer herder crises and banditry reported to have claimed thousands of lives. Besides the physical casualties of deaths and internal displacement of farmers and herders as a result of the incessant clashes, the study asserts that climate change and insecurity further compounds the existing problems of poverty and undevelopment in Northern Nigeria. The study agues that policy priority must be given to rural areas to adapt to climate change and control consequent high levels of insecurity.