Geographers and urban planners are conducting research to help rural dwellers in Kwara State adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change and heatwaves.

Researchers from the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Lead City University, Ibadan, and the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) are leading this initiative. They convened stakeholders in Kwara State for participatory sessions aimed at co-designing and co-producing the study.

These sessions engaged representatives from rural communities, government ministries, departments, agencies (MDAs), and the private sector, focusing on the impacts of floods, droughts, and heatwaves on marginalised rural and urban populations, according to a news report from The Nation.

The theme of the programme was: “A Pan-African and Transdisciplinary Lens on the Margins – Tackling the Risks of Extreme Events” (PALM TREES,).

The research is funded under the Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE) Programme of the United Kingdom (UK) International Development and Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

It is being carried out simultaneously in six African countries and it is aimed at finding enduring solutions to the negative effects of climate change on farmers in the rural areas and their livelihoods.

Head, Department of Geography, UNILAG, Prof Mayowa Fasona, said: “Now by climate change parlance, we are getting to a stage where situations are becoming more cumbersome and complex. So, the adaptation had to be stronger. We need to help the communities with new ideas on how to adapt to climate change effects.

“The project is focused on the experiences with climate extreme events of those living on the margins, including women, people with disability, elderly and orphans among others, will help the participants on how they prepare, adjust, and cope with the impacts of climate extremes on their livelihoods and health with a view to designing and implementing transformational interventions to strengthen their resilience.”

Also, Prof. Andrew Onwuemele of NISER emphasised the need for the adoption and uptake of the expected research output by all concerned as it is only through this that the research could aid sustainable development, “particularly in strengthening the adaptation and resilience of the marginalised people and communities to climate change”.

Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Lead City University, Ibadan, Grace Oloukoi, hinted that the session was to gather input from the relevant stakeholders to see how climate extremes have impacted their living and livelihoods so as to enrich the expected outputs of the research.

The expected output, according to her, are expected to reduce barriers to sustainable knowledge networks, more equitable relationships between communities, practitioners, researchers and policymakers. She added that their study would also focus on “sustainable change” and transferable methodology.