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…
