Climate Resilience, Adaptation, Hazard Prediction, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Early Warning Systems in Northern Nigeria: A Systematic Review

Climate variability and extreme weather events are intensifying across Northern Nigeria, posing significant threats to agricultural productivity, livelihoods, and socio-economic stability. This study presents a systematic review of literature on climate hazards, adaptation strategies, hazard prediction systems, disaster risk reduction (DRR), and early warning systems (EWS) in the region. Guided by the PRISMA framework, peer-reviewed articles and institutional reports published between 2015 and 2025 were analyzed to synthesize current knowledge on the drivers of vulnerability and resilience. The findings reveal that droughts, floods, desertification, and heatwaves are the dominant climate hazards, with impacts amplified by structural factors such as poverty, weak governance, and limited infrastructure. While local adaptation strategies, particularly in agriculture, are widespread, they remain largely incremental and constrained by unequal access to resources, technology, and climate information. Hazard prediction systems and early warning mechanisms have improved in technical capacity; however, their effectiveness is undermined by data limitations, poor dissemination, and the persistent last-mile communication gap. Similarly, DRR efforts are often reactive and insufficiently integrated into broader development planning. The review identifies critical gaps, including the underrepresentation of heatwave impacts, weak institutional coordination, and limited integration of indigenous and scientific knowledge systems. It argues that climate resilience in Northern Nigeria is shaped by the interaction of environmental, socio-economic, and institutional factors, requiring more than isolated sectoral interventions. The study concludes that enhancing resilience demands coordinated, multi-level, and transformative strategies that combine scientific innovation, institutional strengthening, and community-based approaches to address both climate risks and their underlying drivers.