Climate Change and Food Security in Southern and Northern Nigeria

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Nigeria in collaboration with the Coalition for Socioecological Transformation of Nigeria (CoSET), We-The-People Foundation, Young Professional in Policy and Development (YouPaD), and We Unite Foundation held a two-day workshop series in Calabar and Kano on "Climate Change and Food Security in Southern Nigeria" and on "Climate Change and Food Security in Northern Nigeria" respectively.

The meeting brought stakeholders from academia, civil society groups and farmers from rural settlements to deconstruct climate change as it relates to food security in the Southern and Northern part of Nigeria and its implications on farmer-herder conflict. The program was designed to examine the linkages between Climate change, Water, food security, violent conflicts and how they ultimately affect human security in Nigeria; and also assess the policy options available to policymakers in terms of mitigation and adaptation to climate change to reduce vulnerability and human insecurity in Africa.

Several areas explored include climate change, agriculture and food security, gender and local economic development, women and food security, general adaptation strategies, bioclimatic and agroecological zones, desiccation of wetlands, crop failure and livestock starvation due to irregular rainfall, and climate-related diseases.

The following papers were presented:

• Climate Change and Emerging Threats to Food Security in Nigeria
• Women and Food Security: Taking the Lead in Climate Change Resilience
• Climate Change and Impacts on Aquatic Livelihoods
• Climate Change, Gender and Local Economic Development
• Climate Change Impacts on Agricultural Production in Nigeria
• Deconstructing Climate Change and food security: its implications on farmer-herder Conflict
• Climate Change Mitigation through Afforestation / Reforestation: Challenges and Adaptation
• Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture and Food Security in Nigeria: Challenges and Adaptation Strategies
• Gender, Climate change and Food Security in Northern Nigeria
• Life stories from Farmers and sharing their adaptation strategies: Irrigation, Aquatic farming.

Key Facilitators and Paper presenters include Nnimmo Bassey, Ken Henshaw, Evelyn Ugbe, Dr. Aliyu Barau, Irikefe V. Dafe, Emem Okon, Rinmicit Aboki, Hauwa Mustapha et cetera.

The participants engaged in Northern and Southern comparative analysis and experience sharing then brainstormed resilience and action pathways. Some solutions proffered aligned with the adaptation strategies of some rural farmers who shared their stories of irrigation and aquatic farming. One prominent recommendation was that "real solutions to the climate crisis must leverage on the collective experiences, knowledge resilience, voices and actions of people from frontline communities who engage the impacts firsthand".

The participants also agreed on the next steps especially on the importance of promoting interactive exchanges among relevant stakeholders and disseminate outputs through media, advocacy to government and related organisations.