Climate change, land degradation, and extractive-industrial pollution are increasingly reshaping rural livelihoods across Nigeria, yet their impacts are unevenly distributed along gendered lines. This policy brief examines how structural inequalities in land governance, climate adaptation systems, and environmental decision-making intensify women’s vulnerability to environmental stressors. Using an ecofeminist and feminist political ecology framework, the brief synthesizes evidence on agricultural systems, land tenure regimes, and extractive regions to demonstrate that women’s adaptive capacity is systematically constrained by insecure land rights, limited access to climate-resilient resources, and weak representation in environmental governance structures. Findings indicate that women constitute a major share of Nigeria’s smallholder agricultural workforce but remain largely excluded from formal land ownership and secure tenure systems, limiting their ability to invest in long-term productivity and climate adaptation strategies. In addition, climate impacts such as flooding, drought, and desertification disproportionately affect rural women due to their reliance on climate-sensitive livelihoods and informal resource economies. In extractive zones, particularly the Niger Delta, environmental degradation has significantly reduced agricultural productivity and fisheries output, deepening livelihood insecurity and widening gendered inequalities in income and health outcomes. The brief argues that these intersecting pressures create a self-reinforcing cycle of ecological vulnerability and gender inequality that undermines national resilience and sustainable development objectives. In response, it proposes an integrated policy agenda centred on strengthening women’s land tenure security, establishing gender-responsive climate finance mechanisms, and institutionalising mandatory gender-impact assessments for extractive-sector projects. It further emphasises the need for meaningful participation of women in environmental governance structures to ensure inclusive and effective decision-making. Overall, the brief concludes that gender-responsive climate adaptation and land governance are not only equity imperatives but also essential conditions for achieving sustainable environmental management, resilient rural livelihoods, and long-term socio-economic transformation in Nigeria.
IBIMILUA et al. (Mon,) studied this question.