Regional climate model: investigating the impacts of climate change on water availability in Nigeria.

Abstract

Nigeria and the rest of African nations, despite the fact that they produce less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, are considered the world’s most vulnerable regions with regard to the effects of climate change due to the fragility of their economies. However, it is still very difficult to assess the extent of such changes and the specific environmental impacts particularly on water supply and management over most Africa nations due to poor technological development and inadequate research work on this topical subject. In this paper, the third version of the ICTP regional climate model (RegCM3) and the observed surface data were used to investigate the evidence of climate change over Nigeria in the past years (1958 to 2007) with a view to determining the impacts of climate change on the water supply and management - one of the key areas where the climate change impact is adjudged most. The results of the study showed that in the recent past, the region had been witnessing higher temperatures, increased fluctuations in annual rainfall and increase in the salinity of soils and large areas of surface and underground water due to the increasing aridity of the climate; inadequate water supply and control installations as well as intensified marine pollution which are inimical to the health of the millions of Nigerians particularly along the coast of the Atlantic ocean. Key words: Climate change, impact, rainfall, temperature, water resources.