Abstract
This paper examined the effects of climate change on rural development in Nigeria. In this paper, rural development was measured by the percentage of the population with access to improved water supply. On the other hand, the measures of climate change employed in this paper are precipitations, variations in temperature and per capita carbon dioxide emissions. Data on the variables were sourced from the World Development Indicators (WDI) and the analytical techniques include descriptive statistics, unit root test, Hansen cointegration test and Fully-Modified Least Squares (FMOLS). The Kwiatkowski Phillips Schmidt and Shin (KPSS) unit test results show that the variables are mixed integrated with combinations of I(0) and I(1). It was observed from the Hansen test for cointegration that the test statistic with probability value (0.192) indicates that the variables are cointegrated. This suggests that the null hypothesis of parameter stability cannot be rejected. It was found from the estimated cointegrating regression model that precipitation and temperature are significant in influencing changes in access to improved water supply in rural Nigeria. Whilst precipitations negatively influenced access to rural water supply, changes in temperature enhanced rural water supply. The negative effects of precipitations on rural water supply could be attributed to the flooding usually associated with precipitations which tend to contaminate the various water sources in the rural areas. On the other hand, per capita carbon dioxide emissions do not significantly affect access to improved water supply in rural area. Given the findings, it was recommended for policy makers to adopt proactive and innovative approaches by synergizing with the relevant stakeholders to significantly address the problem of climate change and improve opportunities for rural development.
Highlights
The frequency of climate change in recent time has continued to threaten sustainable development
The vulnerability of African economies to climate change is acknowledged by Bunce, Rosendo and Brown (2010), who argued that African continent stands the risk of global food crisis unless the evolving issues of climate change is adequately addressed
Access to improved water supply in the rural area was used to measure the extent of rural development while precipitations, temperature and per capital carbon dioxide emissions were employed as indicators of climate change
Summary
The frequency of climate change in recent time has continued to threaten sustainable development. Several studies (Ayers and Huq, 2009; Boyd et al 2009) have shown that climate change poses a. The understanding of the overall implications of climate change is still underway, empirical studies suggest that precautionary and prompt action is important (Schneider et al, 2000). It is argued that climate change can no longer be overlooked in the development debate. This is partly as a result of it growing adverse implications on developing economies and regions including sub-Saharan Africa. The vulnerability of African economies to climate change is acknowledged by Bunce, Rosendo and Brown (2010), who argued that African continent stands the risk of global food crisis unless the evolving issues of climate change is adequately addressed
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