Nigeria is said to have scored 8.5 on the Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI), thereby placing it in the “extremely high” category for climate risks for children and women.
This is just as Nigeria’s child population of more than 103 million accounts for 10 per cent of the children worldwide who live in extremely high-risk countries.
The statistics are contained in a briefing on Climate Change Education (CCE) presented by UNICEF during the 2023 end-of-year review meeting held at the Emerald Hill Hotels in Gombe over the weekend.
The briefing also revealed that desertification in Northern Nigeria affects between 50 and 75 per cent of the land in 11 Northern states, which threatens the livelihood of over 40 million people.
Also, southern Nigeria sees heavy rainfall, flooding, storm surges, elevated temperatures, and greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to increasingly frequent disasters, especially for children and women.
However, UNICEF’s Strategic Plan (2022-2025) places increasing emphasis on integrating climate action across all goal areas, including education (Goal Area 2), which focuses on ensuring access to quality education and preparing young people with relevant skills for the future.
UNICEF links humanitarian interventions and development through risk-informed and conflict-sensitive programming that strengthens federal, state, and local capacities for equitable and inclusive delivery and effective management of education services; leverages stakeholder participation and engagement; and prioritises the most marginalised children.
Furthermore, UNICEF takes a dual-track approach, which acknowledges that climate change must be addressed both in education and through education.
To date, UNICEF’s efforts on climate change and education in Nigeria have achieved the following: At the systems level, UNICEF has supported the development of cost-effective, emergency-responsive education sector plans in 33 states and FCT.
It has also supported states to implement crisis and disaster risk reduction (CDRR) and emergency preparedness and response plans (EPRP), just as it has strengthened coordination mechanisms and processes among Education in Emergencies actors.
To expand access to education in light of increasingly frequent climate-induced disasters, UNICEF has built the resilience capacities of over 30,000 teachers to respond to emergencies impacting schools and trained communities on crisis and disaster risk reduction (CDRR).
UNICEF also trained SBMCs on school safety and strengthened infrastructure for and provided distance learning support (e.g., community learning hubs, radio, and television) to ensure continuity of learning.
In order to accelerate learning outcomes, including green skills, UNICEF has supported over 33,000 adolescents and teachers to develop climate literacy and conducted awareness-raising, community engagement, and dialogue on climate change.
Such as through environmental clubs and tree planting initiatives; supported youth- and community-led climate adaptation interventions through practical actions, such as school gardening, water conservation, and waste management in schools.
It also engaged in cross-sectoral advocacy and technical support to empower children as agents of change through Nigeria’s participation in the Africa Adaptation Programme.
Most recently, UNICEF has supported a nationwide network of youths to launch the Youth Manifesto: Action on Climate Change and Education in Nigeria (31), which outlines young people’s demands for climate change action in and through the education sector.
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