Environmental Health and Climate Change in Nigeria

Abstract

As we all know, the environment is central to our continued existence on earth and changes in the environment (both natural and man-made) affect it either to the benefit or detriment of man. One of such changes in the physical environment which has grave consequences for the existence of mankind is climate change. Interestingly, climate change is no longer a speculative issue. A strong, global scientific consensus exists to show that this phenomenon is real and if current trends of global warming continue, rising temperatures and sea levels and more frequently extreme weather events (heat-waves, storms, floods, droughts cyclones, etc) could lead to severe shortages of food, water, loss of shelter, livelihoods, extinction of plant and animal species. In the recent past, the earth have witnessed devastating weather-related events in different parts of the world including hurricanes (e.g. Katrina and Rita in the USA), tsunamis, typhoons, flooding especially in the Asian Continent, wild fires especially in Australia, USA etc. Currently, the on-going flood incident in Pakistan that has so far claimed about 1,600 lives and rendered another four million people homeless is a sad reminder of the ugly and devastating consequences of global warming on the environment. There is no gain saying the fact that humankind is paying dearly for the massive alterations in the environment that have induced climate change. This is because of the frequent incidence of climate change related disasters in the world today. There is hardly any month that passes without an incident occurring in one part of the globe or another since the advent of the 21st century. Climate change has wide-ranging and potentially serious health consequences, either due to direct-acting effects (e.g. heat wave-related deaths and weather disasters) or disturbances of complex ecological processes (e.g. changes in patterns of infectious diseases, in fresh water supplies and in food production). The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its fourth assessment report have submitted that globally, “the health status of millions of people is projected to be affected through, for example, increases in malnutrition; increased deaths, diseases and injury; increased burden of diarrheal diseases; increased frequency of cardio-respiratory diseases due to higher concentrations of ground-level ozone in urban areas related to climate change; and the altered spatial distribution of some infectious diseases”. The relationship between climate change, its drivers, effects on systems and socioeconomic development, health, mitigation and adaptation has been reported.

Keywords: Environmental Health; Climate Change; Global Warming; Nigeria