- Background
Nigeria is one of the world’s fastest growing economies and increasingly seeks to improve the management of its natural resources to help sustain, drive, and protect the quality of the growth. The cost of on-going environmental degradation (notably renewable natural resources) and associated disasters such as landslides and flooding is estimated at 9% of the GDP and is likely to increase under a business- as usual scenario. Nationwide, cropland degradation accounts for 1.7 to 6.4% of GDP.
In some areas of southern Nigeria, land degradation has caused yield reduction of 30 to 90%. Losses, damages and foregone revenues were valued at more than $100M (USD) per year in terms of injuries and premature deaths, loss of vegetative cover and environmental services, income losses and yield reduction.
The root causes of gully erosion are complex and once a gully develops, especially in the soils of southern Nigeria, it expands and becomes difficult to control. Although, the causes of gully formation differ by site, they are largely due to:
- Improper road design and construction, particularly inadequate drainage;
- Poor solid waste management in urban and peri-urban and
- Destructive and unsustainable land use practices that remove protective cover including protective biodiversity and carbon rich areas.
Climate change intensifies the challenges and with the available information from the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) the country is already experiencing climate variability in the form of increasing rainfall intensity, shifts in rainy season, on-set and cessation of rains, flood and drought.
Climate related disasters already affect Nigeria’s economy and society as evidenced by 2012 floods which displaced over two million people. Climate risks also are a significant factor in the development of gully in southern Nigeria, especially because of the very high rainfall intensity.
