Sustainability and the Effectiveness of BNRCC Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) to Address Climate Change Impact in Nigeria

Abstract

Building Nigeria’s Response to Climate Change (BNRCC) Project implemented between 2007 and 2012, among other things, targeted to build resilience of rural households across the different ecozones of Nigeria. The current investigation took advantage of the 7 years which had elapsed after the end of the BNRCC implementation phase to conduct a meaningful assessment of extent of sustainability of the various project activities. End of project assessments of the adaptation activities carried out earlier by the benefiting communities and an independent assessor reported that the BNRCC CBA activities had performed well in building the response of the rural farming communities to climate change impacts. Specific improvements recorded in the communities included: improved water supply for irrigation and domestic use, increased crop yield, increased number of tree stands for soil protection and fuelwood supply, and increase in household income through alternative livelihoods. The present study identified the extent to which different attributes contained in the project implementation contributed in achieving sustainability and improving the response of the rural communities to the impacts of climate change. Sustainability attributes scored high as having contributed in ensuring that the impacts of the projects persist till date are: facilitating climate change awareness and information sharing (100%), ensuring inclusiveness of women and youth (100%), creation of ownership and management structure (86.6%), building capacity on equipment maintenance (73.3%), linking up with external/public institutional support (60%), and integration of local knowledge (40%).