The influence of climate change on business performance in the Riverine areas of South-South Region, Nigeria

Abstract

The global climate change has continued to generate serious concern in the recent times especially with its increasing effect on business and human activities, as can be seen in Nigerian riverine areas. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of Climate Change on business performance in the riverine areas of the South-South region Nigeria. The study sought to: investigate the effect of rising sea levels; shrinking mountain glaciers and accelerating ice melting on businesses performance in the region. The study is survey research, sampling the opinion of 253 selected business operators in the area. Their opinion was collected using a structured questionnaire and data collected were analysed by simple regression method. The findings revealed that indeed, rising sea levels, shrinking mountain glaciers, and accelerating ice melting has significant effect on business performance in the region. The study concluded that Climate change in one way or the other affects businesses, economy and business environment. Mitigating climate change, addressing waste and pollution, and ensuring environmental sustainability are among the world’s most pressing issues. It therefore recommended that Nigerian government should pay serious attention to the high rise in sea level through different environmental policies and legislation; government should also encourage voluntary mitigation to reduce emission of greenhouse gases and shrinking mountain glaciers to protect the environment. Also, there is the need for promoting businesses and environmental education; develop and put in practice adequate governance frameworks that enable the sharing and re-use of environmental data to recede or mitigate the effect of climate change in the riverine areas of Nigeria.