Effect of Climate Change on Air Quality: A Nigerian Perspective

The entirety of the ecosystem today is subject to incessant global warming and climate changes with the aftermaths and risks being a great cause for concern for both developed and developing nations. Factors leading to the exposure of the natural environment to these risks are mainly anthropogenic with the most significant factor being the high dependence on fossil fuels which increase the concentration of two major greenhouse gases (GHGs), i.e., CO2 and CH4. Consequently, the world is faced with not just a rapid rise in global temperatures, but on a wider spectrum, the bizarre behaviour of different ecosystems of the world with the quality of air not left out. This is evidenced by the several health issues emanating from the intake of polluted air by human beings. This study highlights how the air quality has impacted on the climate changes using Nigeria as a case study. Climatic changes such as prolonged dry and sunny season results in wildfires which obviously degrade the quality of air by reducing the oxygen content and introducing smoke and particulate. The population explosion and hence, the need for more fossil fuels and limited oxygen in the metropolitan cities of Nigeria such as Lagos is the major reason for the poor air quality index (AQI) relative to other suburban and rural areas. The continuous rise in global warming is characterized by increments in the presence of toxic components like sulphur and nitrogen oxides, particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) levels in the atmosphere. In this study, the causes of the deterioration in air quality, current trends/scenario in Nigeria and effective solutions to remedy the situation are discussed in detail. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.