Climate Change and Environment

STANDING BY THE RIVER GOI, Eric Dooh’s face shines with sweat. It is wet season in the Niger Delta’s Ogoniland region and the humidity is brutal. The surface of the river shines as well — with a veil of slick crude oil. “My parents were great farmers,” Dooh says, pointing toward the large swath of land, now overgrown with weeds, by the edge of the river where he once worked with his parents to produce yam, water yam, maize, cassava, and groundnuts. “Whenever the farm was harvested we had enough

For the past 60 years, every decade has been hotter than the last, and 2020 is poised to be among the hottest years ever.

This Is Inequity at the Boiling Point

It was a record 125 degrees Fahrenheit in Baghdad in July, and 100 degrees above the Arctic Circle this June. Australia shattered its summer heat records as wildfires, fueled by prolonged drought, turned the sky fever red. For 150 years of industrialization, the combustion of coal, oil and gas has steadily released heat-trapping gases i

Michael Okorie, 54, wanders through a narrow muggy track on his way to his farm, wagging a cutlass and whistling some local Christian hymns. His tune makes him seem excited, but the expression on his face suggests subdued worries.

At the outset of yam planting season in February last year, he secured a loan of 60,000 Naira ($166) to make up his budget for yam farming. The loan came with a commitment to repay after harvest in a few months’ time.

He prepared nearby land and hired labourers to ra

A combination of heavier rains and man-made problems has contributed to devastating floods. Is the government doing enough?

Over the last few years in Nigeria, seasonal flooding has killed hundreds, destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, and displaced millions of people.

This year, since the rainy season began in June, twelve states have been badly affected. In four of them – Anambra, Delta, Kogi and Niger – the government declared a state of emergency. The National Emergency management age