Analysing the Environmental Management Dimensions of Climate-Induced Migration in Nigeria’s North West Zone

This study analyses the environmental management dimensions of climate-induced population migration in Nigeria's North West geopolitical zone, examining how the displacement of rural communities driven by desertification, drought, and land degradation creates environmental management challenges in both sending and receiving areas. Climate migration is a documented and growing phenomenon in North West Nigeria, as declining agricultural viability in degraded dryland areas pushes households to abandon home communities and migrate to peri-urban settlements, displacing environmental pressures from sending to receiving areas in ways that formal environmental management systems are not designed to address. The study employs a mixed-methods approach combining satellite image analysis of land cover change in twelve high-outmigration LGAs in Sokoto and Zamfara States, structured surveys of 180 recent migrant households in receiving peri-urban settlements in Kano and Kaduna, and key informant interviews with local government officials and community leaders at both origin and destination sites. Analysis examines the environmental condition changes at sending areas post-migration and the environmental management challenges created at receiving settlements. Results show that abandoned agricultural land in high-outmigration sending areas shows mixed recovery, with some sites showing vegetation regrowth while others remain degraded due to continued erosion and invasive species colonisation. Receiving peri-urban settlements show acute sanitation, waste management, and land use conflicts associated with unplanned settlement growth. Environmental management at receiving locations is largely absent. Recommendations include an environmental management response framework for climate migration that addresses both sending area restoration and receiving area planned settlement management. Keywords: climate migration, environmental management, desertification, North West Nigeria, peri-urban settlement.