Climate Experts Support Vulnerable Communities to Cope With Weather Extremes in Lagos

The collaborative research project titled: ‘A Pan-African and Transdisciplinary Lens on the Margins – Tackling the Risks of Extreme Events’ (PALM-TREEs) in Nigeria is jointly conducted by Researchers from the Lead City University, Ibadan, the University of Lagos,  and the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER).

A statement said that the project is designed to understand the drivers, the multidimensional impacts and to co-create knowledge that could be translated into adaptation actions in vulnerable communities in Lagos State using both physical and social science methodologies. Based on evidence from their study, the PALM-TREEs project is supporting the margins- women, persons with disabilities, life on the street, elderly, children, others in Lagos State to cope better with extreme climate events – flooding and heatwaves.

“The PALM-TREEs research project, funded under the Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE) Programme of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC), is implementing transformational interventions to improve the resilience of the urban vegetable farmers who are vulnerable to water stress  and fishing communities who face the challenge of extreme flooding and heat stress. Benefitting communities for the intervention projects are selected across eight (08)  Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Lagos State – Ifako-Ijaye, Kosofe, Somolu, Ikorodu, Alimosho, Surulere, Lagos Mainland and Epe.

“The intervention projects are outcomes of a study which started in February, 2024 with the Inception Meeting, the Policy Consultation Hour in January 2025 and full quantitative and qualitative social survey in over 100 communities spreading over the 20 LGAs in Lagos State.

“Based on preliminary results from the study and as part of the project’s intervention efforts to build the capacities of communities to cope with the extreme climate events such as flooding and heatwaves in particular,  PALM-TREEs is intervening in  10 communities across the eight  LGAs in Lagos State. The project provided a solar-powered borehole in Ogudu Police Barracks (Women), Kosofe LGA to support dry season irrigation of small-plot vegetables by women groups, and also provide the community with water for domestic uses.

“The project also supported women in fishing communities with Smoke less smoking Klin in Ogudu, Inverter deep Freezer in Ogudu and Agboyi-Ketu, irrigation equipment like pumping machine, watering cans, hose (Suction and Flat), water Tanks, assorted farming tools and vegetable seedlings, for male and female farmer groups in Iju, Unilag, and Surulere; nets for male fishers in Ogudu.

“We also constructed Gezebo Shaded Area – a freestanding, open-sided garden structure with a solid roof that provides a sheltered space for outdoor relaxation and social gatherings – in Ago-Egun community and Unilag Geo farm, and fryers for cassava processing in Iju and Epe. These items are deliberately chosen to support sustainable livelihood adaptation of the benefiting communities.

“To support knowledge capital of the benefiting communities in Lagos State, PALM-TREES is also providing training to support farmers on land improvement and water infrastructure management techniques; adoption of climate resilient vegetable seeds and product value-added techniques for the fishers in a way to enhance their income and reduce loses during market failure and extreme events.”

According to the PALM-TREEs Project Lead for Lagos State, Prof. Grace Oloukoi, “working with the communities has provided us with first-hand knowledge on the multiple stresses and compound vulnerabilities to climate extremes in Lagos.”

She observed that impacts of climate extreme on individual and community as well as coping capacities vary, depending more on social identities- gender, disabilities, age, residential segregation, others, access to assets- economic capital, livelihood activities, information, social networks, and other poverty-development indices. She remarked that transformational intervention to support the vulnerable must target specific needs of different social groups in order to ensure community adaptive success.

According to Prof. Mayowa Fasona, University of Lagos who is co-principal investigators on the project, “this project has allowed the team to demonstrate practical solutions to a practical challenge of climate extremes. The PALM-TREEs is looking forward to a better outcome of these intervention projects in the benefiting communities.”

Prof. Andrew Onwuemele, Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, noted that a policy dialogue session with the government is necessary to inform policy for integration of climate adaptation across sectors in order to improve the resilience of the people living on the margins and facilitate more equitable relationships between communities, practitioners, researchers and policymakers.

According to Prof. Vide Adedayo, one of the researchers on the project, “our intervention in these communities signifies a commencement of the partnership between Nigerian Universities, one of the National Research Institutes and local communities to improve the living conditions and climate resilience of the people on the margin. This collaboration is more than an academic exercise, it is rooted in shared responsibility for a better climate-resilient society in Nigeria.”