Climate change and conflict increase malnutrition rates in Nigeria

Climate change together with the ongoing armed conflict in northeastern Nigeria have resulted in a dramatic increase in cases of severe malnutrition.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says this upward trend is a worrying sign that families in the Lake Chad region are struggling to put food on the table.

Clinics have reported a 24 per cent increase in the number of young children suffering from malnutrition compared to the previous year.

Rabiatu Jubrilla says that when she brought her son to the ICRC’s Mubi stabilisation clinic for malnutrition treatment, he could not even sit on his own.

“He was healthy when I delivered him, but at 1 year 9 months old, I stopped breastfeeding him. He began to lose weight, and we thought it was because he was not able to get breast milk.”

The protracted armed conflict is one of the main drivers behind the deteriorating food crisis. It has displaced millions, destroyed livelihoods, and is severely impacting access to agricultural land. 

Paul Ezra, a farmer in Madagali village in Adamawa State says nobody can go to the bush to farm.

“We don’t have enough farmland. Before, we used to go out in the fields to farm. But now, Boko Haram and other armed groups have taken over the bush,” he says.

And the conflict has intensified since the start of the year. 

“This rise in the number of people without enough food mirrors an increase in violence, which has severely impacted communities’ ability to grow crops and access market,” says the ICRC’s Nigeria Head of Delegation, Yann Bonzon.

He says fighting in the Lake Chad region has risen by 58 per cent in the first half of 2024.

The region’s heavy reliance on subsistence farming also made it vulnerable to the effects of climate change, like irregular rainfall, which also has an impact on food production.

This year, heavy floods washed away seeds and the hope of a harvest after an arid lean season. The consequences are devastating.

“We have people who fainted and are at the hospital. Others have died because there is not enough to eat,” says farmer Abubakar Bello Duhu.

The ICRC estimates that over six million people in the Lake Chad region will experience food shortages in the coming months due to conflict and the effects of climate change.