Human Activities and Natural Hazards in Areas of Northern Nigeria

Abstract

in Nigeria like most part of the world, anthropogenic activities and human interventions with the natural environment have continued to escalate both natural and human-induced hazards. these usually altered the natural equilibrium leading to alterations of the natural processes that threaten sustainable livelihood across the country. this study examines role of climate change using temperature record (1951-2014) over kano, Maiduguri, and sokoto to determine spatiotemporal changes and its potential impact. shiroro hydrologic record for thirty seven years (1975-2012) were collected and analyzed in addition, hand dug well and borehole water simples were collected around kuyi waste dump site to determine the impact of waste on the water quality. furthermore 300 structured questionnaires were administered to the residents of gurmana downstream settlement for the purpose of generating their responses arising from flooding and its related problems. the result affirmed temperature changes between 1950-1982 and 1982-2014; it reveals positive changes in april mean, maximum and minimum and maximum temperature values of between 0.4 to 1.5oC across the study area. similarly, the observed oscillation and positive trend of inflow and outflow from shiroro reservoir constitute a major and unprecedented shift in stream flow across the downstream communities. thus, intensifying seasonal rainfall related hazards that threatens livelihood of the exposed and vulnerable community. specifically, over 70% of the community population strongly agree that flood poses a great threat to their farmlands also; poverty is major factor intensifying vulnerability as about 45% of the population still live in mud houses with thatch roofs. furthermore, urbanization has continued to aggravate waste management challenges leading to increase concentration of pollutants that pose direct/indirect health threat to women and children. the pH values for hand dug well is 6.20 and boreholes are between 6.83 and 7.18, the hand dug well is below SON (2007) standard, Magnesium (Mg) and conductivity is generally above SON (2007) standard value which is 100. its' crucial to understand the physical phenomena and human induced hazards that intensify natural disaster which can cause human life disruption, loss of life, property damage, socio-economic disruption and environmental degradation. hence, there is need for systematic vulnerability and exposure as pathway towards disaster risk reduction.