Journal of African Studies and Sustainable Development

Significant influence exists between man, climate, and the environment. Recent happenings have emphatically demonstrated humanity's growing vulnerability to climate change and its threats to human survival, calling for a proactive approach to halt the envisaged ruin. Man's environment is dependent on climatic and environmental conditions, which either ease or complicate human existence. This paper examined how vulnerability to climate change and environmental hazards in Nigeria could be reduced by drawing jointly on indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and formal climate science, with a particular interest in the complementary role that IKS can play alongside environmental education. The paper is aimed at creating awareness and educating Nigerians on environmental issues and empowering them to protect the environment, since national development cannot be achieved without the environmental protection that environmental education fosters. Given increasing climatic instability, the study synthesizes awareness-raising and mitigation and adaptation solutions to aid and reinforce resilience in Nigerian cities and rural communities. The paper demonstrated that climate-change-induced displacement is a determinant of conflict and a major threat to security in Nigeria, and that such conflicts have become a yardstick for internal migration in the country. This study adopted a qualitative documentary research design. The design was considered appropriate because the study seeks to critically examine the relationship between climate change adaptation, environmental hazard management, indigenous knowledge systems (IKS), and environmental education in Nigeria through the synthesis and analysis of existing literature and documented evidence. The approach enabled the study to draw together findings from previous scholarly studies, policy documents, institutional reports, and other relevant secondary sources to develop an integrated understanding of climate vulnerability and resilience in Nigeria. The paper concludes with recommendations on how indigenous knowledge and scientificeducational approaches can be woven together to strengthen coping capacity in Nigeria.

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