Climate Change Conference of Parties and the Missing Line in Northern Nigeria: A Review

This review aimed to critically examine the extent to which Northern Nigeria is represented and integrated within the global climate governance framework of the Conference of the Parties (COPs) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) model as an evidence-based minimum set of reporting standards for synthesizing relevant literature. A systematic search of peer-reviewed articles, institutional reports, and international policy documents was conducted across major academic and climate databases to identify studies addressing climate vulnerability, COP participation, climate finance, and governance structures in Northern Nigeria and comparable Sahelian regions. The synthesized evidence reveals that Northern Nigeria is highly vulnerable to climate change, experiencing increasing desertification, erratic rainfall, land degradation, and climate-induced conflicts that threaten food security and livelihoods, yet remains marginalized in Nigeria’s national climate representation at COPs. The review further shows that weak institutional frameworks, limited technical capacity, and poor access to global climate finance mechanisms have constrained the region’s ability to benefit from international climate agreements. It is concluded that the current centralized structure of Nigeria’s climate governance system has limited the inclusion of Northern Nigeria’s adaptation priorities within global negotiations, thereby widening regional vulnerability gaps. Future efforts should therefore focus on strengthening subnational representation, building institutional and technical capacity, enhancing access to climate finance, and promoting regional and cross-border collaboration to ensure that Northern Nigeria can actively engage in and benefit from global climate processes.