Climate Change and Vulnerability of the Riverine Communities in Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

Most of the sub-Sahara African population lives in vulnerable environment and highly dependent on natural resource such as rain fed crop production for their livelihood which made the region most vulnerable to climate change impact. This paper examines the vulnerability of riverine communities downstream of shiroro Dam. Hydrologocal data (1975 -2012) were analyzed and questionnaires were administered during field work to determine the environmental and socio-economic vulnerability of the study area. The crucial information were extracted, coded, ranked and analysed using SPSS 16.0.This was used to determine communities vulnerability based on their response about flooding events, susceptibility, risk and capacity. The analysis depicts a noticeable fluctuation in hydrological data thereby resulting to variation in communities’ exposure to impending natural hazard like flood. The questionnaire analysis reveals varying levels of communities’ physical environment and socio-economic vulnerability. The community vulnerability gives an indication to the fact that interventions should be community-based rather than general and broad decision that characterized disaster risk management in the country.