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Nigeria Floods: 8 Ways You Can Help Those Experiencing the Climate Crisis Firsthand
10-30-2022
Over 1.4 million people have been displaced, more than 90,000 homes have been destroyed, and about 500 people have died in some of the worst flooding Nigeria has seen in a decade.
Since mid-September, the flooding — driven by rainfall intensified by human-induced climate change and poor climate resilience infrastructure — has washed away entire communities and destroyed thousands of hectares of farmland.
Nigeria was already facing multiple humanitarian crises: violence from the militant Islamist group, Boko Haram; outbreaks of disease including cholera; and critical levels of malnutrition. Now, climate change is exacerbating the situation and putting even more people at risk.
Nigeria is responsible for less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions — a minuscule proportion when you consider that the richest 10% of the world’s population are responsible for over half of carbon emissions. By 2030, it is estimated that up to 118 million extremely poor people — living on less than $1.90 a day — will be exposed to drought, floods, and extreme heat in Africa.
Wealthier nations — which have contributed the most to climate change — need to step up and support African countries in adapting to and planning for climate change, as well as paying for the loss and damage it’s already incurred. Are they doing it? The short answer is: no.
Wealthier countries must also take the lead in providing resources for the loss and damages already incurred by the poorest and most vulnerable communities around the world because of climate change. To do so, they must work with communities on the front lines around the world to assess the costs of the “loss and damages” they have already endured, and continue to experience, and ensure a transparent and equitable mechanism is established to disburse this funding. Resources provided for loss and damage must be new and additional to the $100 billion a year pledge for climate finance.
Ahead of November’s COP27 in Egypt, climate activists, such as ??Adenike Titilope Oladosu, are intensifying the call for climate finance to address the country’s climate crisis.
Over 12 years ago, the world’s richest countries promised to deliver $100 billion every year from 2020 to 2025 to climate finance (money to help lower-income countries most affected by climate change adapt to its effects). But they've fallen short of their pledges, saying that the promised funding now likely won't be delivered until 2023. But the climate crisis is devastating countries from Pakistan to Sudan right now.
However, despite COP27 being dubbed the “African COP,” African climate activists from some of the countries most affected by global warming say they are struggling to get access to the UN climate summit.
“I have a voice, I want the privilege to speak,” said climate activist Goodness Dickson, from Abuja, Nigeria. “Despite Egypt being called an African COP, we’re having a very serious challenge and many countries most affected by the climate crisis won’t be represented.”
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