Abstract
Climate change is the single biggest environmental issue facing the world today. It has become a great challenge to our generation and its impact is felt in almost every society in the world. Nigeria is one of the most vulnerable countries in Africa. Nigeria as a developing nation with a population of about 200 million people is likely to be adversely impacted by climate change due to its vulnerability and low coping capabilities. Climate change is evidently linked to human actions, and in particular from the burning of fossil fuels and changes in global patterns of land use. The impacts of human activities, as well as those of natural phenomena on global warming, climate change, and the environment, were presented and discussed. Various manifestations of its impact are evident in Nigeria, which includes temperature rise, increase in draught, and scarcity of food instigated by irregularities in rainfall, over flooding, and so on. This paper examines the concepts of global warming and climate change; its impact on the Nigeria ecosystems. It highlights the climate change-related risks and hazards the nation could face if best practices are not employed to prevent and mitigate its impact. Two sets of measures have been advocated for confronting climate change, these are mitigation and adaptation measures. The review explores possible adaptation strategies that are required to respond to the climatic variations and suggests ways that these adaptation strategies can be implemented.
Highlights
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with non-living components of their environment, interacting as a system
In the last ten years, storms that are more powerful have been occurring frequently, and if greenhouse gases continue to contribute to global warming it will only get worse because of the great damage done to the world ecosystems (UNFCC, 2007)
Already existing data have shown that there has been a change in the pattern of rainfall over the past decades, which is an indication of a rapid change in the climate (Oladipo, 1995; Anyadike, 2009) Anyadike (2009) suggests that the impact of climate change on human environment is evident in the changes in the inception and completion of rainfall, melting of ice caps which is caused by rising in sea level, extreme patterns in distribution of rainfall, which leads to flooding and increased intense atmospheric disturbances such as thunderstorms
Summary
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with non-living components of their environment, interacting as a system (an entity). Emissions of greenhouse gases can be as a result of burning fossil fuels, and of the pollution of the air from many different chemicals This causes the air in the atmosphere to stay warmer and can have a devastating effect on all the ecosystems of the world (Nwafor, 2007; IPCC, 2007; Odjugo, 2009). In the last ten years, storms that are more powerful have been occurring frequently, and if greenhouse gases continue to contribute to global warming it will only get worse because of the great damage done to the world ecosystems (UNFCC, 2007). It explores possible adaptation strategies that are required to respond to the climatic variations and suggests ways that these adaptation strategies can be implemented
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Nigerian Journal of Environmental Sciences and Technology
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
