Environmental research

A study carried out by INHD in early 2012 for Lagos State Center for Rural Development reveals that people of ILOGBO, a coastal community in Badagry suffer great loses due to flooding. They believe that ocean surge is caused by the gods of the ocean and has nothing to do with sea level rise caused by climate change. By the 1991 census, Ilogbo community had a population of 500. Presently (2013), the population is in excess of 20,000. The main occupation is farming. The community mangrove forests have been depleted /harvested for firewood and furniture. This further opens up their wetland to environmental challenges especially flooding and erosion. Other challenges include poor drainage; low crop yield as a result of loss of farm land to erosion. The adaptive capacity of these people is very low due to lack of knowledge and other resources. Ilogbo community youths who should be agents of change are uninformed. This project is aimed at developing adaptive capacity of Ilogbo community youths to manage the challenges of climate change. INHD and the community will jointly implement the following activities: 1) Separate sessions on environmental education for Ilogbo rural community in Badagry local government. 2) Community mobilization to plant and nurture 3000 mangrove and coconut seedlings on about (3) hectares of land to serve as buffer against flooding/erosion with the added advantage of serving as carbon sink. 3) Provision of 3,000 sand bags and training on the best way to position sand bags to direct the flow of water current thereby checking erosion. 4) Three thousand (3,000) copies of climate change book, authored by Ayo Tella, will be provided to Ilogbo youths (students). These youths will develop capacity and share the knowledge gained from the book/tutorials with the other members of the community both literate and illiterate. 5) Members of Climate Change club who are among Ilogbo youths will be trained as environmental sustainability champions. They will become agents of change who will mentor their co-students on sustainability. 6)Training of young farmers clubs in schools in composting to practice green farming and training in resource recovery from waste to sell papers, nylon and other recyclable items

Nigeria