Climate Change, Development and the Cities; Perception of the Residents of Minna, Niger State

Abstract

The level of an individual or communal understanding of climate change would engender any consequential response to planning activities. The assessment of urban residence perception of climate change issues in Minna town was measured based on a field survey conducted using structured questionnaires. A total of 2000 structured questionnaires were administered using systematic random sampling techniques. That’s 80 questionnaires, each was assigned to 25 existing wards covering the entire study area. The result of the field survey analysis reveals that 79.2% of the respondents are aware of changes in the general weather conditions of their environment, but attributed it to an increase in temperature or natural changes(46.4%). The result also shows that 816 of the respondents, representing 81.6%, could not directly link urban planning within the environment with climate change. This research has concluded that though people are aware of the changes in the climate conditions in their environment, the majority of people felt that emissions from vehicles, generators, etc., could not contribute to climate change, but merely cause environmental pollution. The reasons advanced by most of the respondents were that carbon monoxide emitted from cooking stoves and automobiles is too insignificant to have any negative effect on the global climate.