Community Resilience: Integrating Local Approaches into Nigeria's Climate Change Adaptation Agenda

The document examines the disconnect between Nigeria's top-down climate adaptation frameworks and the bottom-up initiatives already being implemented by local communities. It highlights that while national policies like the NDC and NAPF are comprehensive, they often exclude frontline stakeholders and lack clear implementation plans. Through case studies in Ogun and Anambra states and Lagos, the brief demonstrates how local actors use indigenous knowledge and nature-based solutions to combat deforestation, fisheries collapse, and gully erosion. It concludes that scaling up LLA can enhance national resilience if the government addresses critical gaps in finance, capacity building, and technology access.

• Nigeria's national climate adaptation approach is primarily 'top-down', which excludes frontline communities and their traditional knowledge from the decision-making process, rendering it ineffective for rural communities and informal settlements.
• Despite a comprehensive set of policy frameworks, including the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and the National Adaptation Plan Framework (NAPF), there is a significant implementation gap due to scarce public funds and a lack of skilled manpower.
• Local communities in Owode, Ogun State, are implementing nature-based solutions by converting agricultural biomass waste into biogas to reduce reliance on forest biomass and combat energy poverty.
• Fish farmers in Nigeria are employing indigenous adaptation strategies to counter climate-induced mortality and production deficits, such as using bitter leaf juice (Vernonia amygdalina) to reduce fish mortality and crossbreeding species to create the disease-resistant hybrid Heteroclarias.
• In south-eastern Nigeria, specifically Abatete town in Anambra State, communities use traditional methods like tree planting, contour ploughing, and sandbags to mitigate the impacts of gully erosion and landslides on farms and roads.
• The primary barriers hindering the scale-up of locally-led adaptation in Nigeria are a lack of financial resources, limited technical expertise, and the exclusion of women, youth, and indigenous people from policy design.

APA

Okeke, C. U. (2024). Community Resilience: Integrating Local Approaches into Nigeria's Climate Change Adaptation Agenda. Africa Policy Research Institute. https://afripoli.org/community-resilienceintegrating-local-approaches-into-nigerias-climate-change-adaptation-agenda

Chicago

Okeke, Chukwueloka Udechukwu. Community Resilience: Integrating Local Approaches into Nigeria's Climate Change Adaptation Agenda. Africa Policy Research Institute, 2024. https://afripoli.org/community-resilienceintegrating-local-approaches-into-nigerias-climate-change-adaptation-agenda.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Okeke |first1=Chukwueloka Udechukwu |title=Community Resilience: Integrating Local Approaches into Nigeria's Climate Change Adaptation Agenda |publisher=Africa Policy Research Institute |date=5 February 2024 |url=https://afripoli.org/community-resilienceintegrating-local-approaches-into-nigerias-climate-change-adaptation-agenda |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{okeke2024community, author = {Okeke, Chukwueloka Udechukwu}, title = {{Community Resilience: Integrating Local Approaches into Nigeria's Climate Change Adaptation Agenda}}, institution = {Africa Policy Research Institute}, year = {2024}, month = feb, url = {https://afripoli.org/community-resilienceintegrating-local-approaches-into-nigerias-climate-change-adaptation-agenda}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }