Human Settlement And Health
There are many ways that climate change could affect human
settlements and health. Some of the impacts will be direct,
others will be indirect. Urban populations are growing
and contributing to environmental degradation, loss of
biodiversity, environmental decay, and water/air/environmental
pollution
Human settlements in Nigeria will be affected by climate
change in a variety of ways. Urban and rural population
concentrations will be disrupted, particularly along the
coastline due to sea-level rise and related phenomena.
Some settlements are known to have already relocated farther
inland from their original sites in response to sea incursion
over some decades. Population displacement and migration
from, and to, various human settlements will arise from
either or both of drought incidence in the Northern states
of the country and accelerated sea level rise in the coastal
regions. Rises in sea-level will also threaten urban and
rural infrastructure facilities in low lying coastal regions
Extreme climate conditions such as high wind, heavy rainfall,
heat and cold can result in wide-ranging scenarios such
as tropical storms, floods, landslides, droughts and sea-level
rise. Climatic catastrophes induce populations to be displaced
(or decimated by death), which in turn can lead to conflict
and civil unrest. As well, the public health infrastructure
would be eroded if resources are diverted from its maintenance
to disaster recovery. Communities and government would
be burdened with having to make reparations to individuals
for property damage and loss, unemployment, clean-up,
and reduced socioeconomic viability of the communities
affected.
Pests and diseases are implicated in climate change.
Significant climatic conditions such as temperature, precipitation,
sunshine and wind can affect and accelerate their dispersion
and their increase. Food crops are affected by their presence
(creating economic problems because of low agricultural
yields and food shortages, as well as human population
problems such as malnutrition). Pests and diseases can
adversely affect animal husbandry; it also cause human
suffering (for example, malaria, cholera, typhoid and
dengue fever) which in turn affects the effectiveness
and productivity of Nigeria's labour force.
A number of indirect impacts of climate change on human
health were identified. As Nigeria's inhabitants already
suffer from nutritional imbalances (poor nutrition and
malnutrition), climate change will only have a deleterious
effect on food security. A shift could occur in the location
of some vector-borne diseases, such as malaria (mosquitoes),
sleeping sickness (tsetse fly) etc. In response to shifts
in the patterns of rainfall and temperature; mosquitoes
currently thrive in locations where water logging and
poor drainage typify the landscape. High flood frequency
and water-logging due to climate change in ecozones hitherto
unassociated with malaria will enhance the breeding of
mosquitoes and thus the spread of malaria. Malaria will
also increase due to the preponderance of stagnant pools
of water resulting from sea-level rise related flooding.
New evidences with respect to micro-climate change due
to land-use changes such as swamp reclamation and deforestation
suggest an increase spread of malaria to new areas (Munga
et al, 2006; IPCC, 2007).
Direct impacts include health problems induced by increasing
incidences of heat waves. These could lead to more cases
of cerebro-spinal meningitis (CSM), which today is found
to correlate positively with the highest maximum temperature
of the northern winter season, and inversely with absolute
humidity to a lesser, although still significant, extent.
Currently, this health condition is a feature of Nigeria's
dry belt represented by the Sudan Sahelian region of the
country, and occurs in the peak of the dry season. The
occurrence of skin cancer from direct ultra-violet radiation
could become more common, as could increase incidences
of cardiovascular respiration disorders.
On the whole, a 2005 evaluation of Nigeria, along side
other 23 countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa projected
that meeting of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG),
particularly with respect to child and maternal health,
will elude the country because of climate change and other
multiple stresses (UNDP, 2005; IPCC, 2007).
There are gender considerations in assessing vulnerability.
Women do most of the farming in some parts of the country
(rural Anambra, Benue, Cross River; urban Lagos; urban
and rural: Kwara, Ogun, Imo, Ondo, Oyo and Rivers), as
well as fishing. Recent studies (Folorunsho, 1992 and
Ojo and Folorunsho, 1993) found that 90% of women involved
in fish processing in urban areas use firewood or wood
products in their activities. Fuel wood is also used extensively
in food processing, and in domestic activities that are
dominated by women. Collection of firewood under conditions
of heat stress could impact more on the health of women
and children who are more involved in this activity than
men.
