In My Community In Southern Nigeria, A Successful Community-based Adaptation Practice Is Community-led Flood Management.
The main challenge addressed is seasonal flooding, which has become more frequent and severe due to climate change, blocked waterways, and rapid urbanization.
Local people are deeply involved. Community elders, youth groups, and women’s associations jointly decide when and how drainage channels and natural streams are cleared before the rainy season. Decisions are made through town meetings, not imposed by government or NGOs. The impact has been practical and visible. Floodwater drains faster. Homes and farmlands suffer less damage. Community awareness around waste disposal has improved, reducing blocked drains.
Traditional practices that support adaptation include:
Respecting natural flood paths and wetlands instead of building on them.
Using raised housing foundations in flood-prone zones.
Seasonal farming calendars aligned with rainfall patterns.
Community warning systems based on rainfall signs and river levels.
These practices are still effective but are slowly being replaced by modern construction and poor land-use planning. Where they are ignored, flood risks increase.
They are strongly tied to local identity. Elders pass this knowledge down as part of communal responsibility and respect for land and water. They are strongly tied to local identity. Elders pass this knowledge down as part of communal responsibility and respect for land and water.
Under the Locally-Led Adaptation (LLA) framework, these practices could be strengthened by:
Funding community-led flood projects directly
Integrating local knowledge into urban planning policies
Supporting youth-led documentation of indigenous practices.
Key barriers include weak policy support, youth migration, loss of traditional authority, and overreliance on external “one-size-fits-all” solutions. A good example of integration is community-led erosion control in southeastern Nigeria, where traditional land terracing is combined with NGO-supported tree planting and modern soil management.