**1. Introduction**

The rising spate of phenomenon and disaster associated with the global warming and resultant extreme weather events in the 21st century have beamed attention on climate change in most national and international discourse. Across the world, the rising incidence of various environmental, ecological and atmospheric disruptions such as extreme heat, heat wave, wildfire, heavy winds, hurricane, heavy rain, storm surge, flooding, rising sea level, snow storm, landslide, drought, etc. have been largely attributed to the unusual fluctuations of weather elements and the climatic system. The havocs wrecked by these events endanger humanity, environment and economic system of nations and as a result, reports oftentimes present a universal dimension of the phenomenon. According to the World Bank [1], climate change portends severe

dangers to all living things, the entire ecosystem and infrastructure. Furthermore, countries around the world are persistently affected by the unusual patterns of dangerous climate events. Apart from the qualitative description of the magnitude, the phenomenon has also been buttressed with scientific proof and quantitative assessment of the impact [2], averred that prior to industrial revolution, the amount of atmospheric carbon-dioxide (CO2) was within 260–280 part per million by volume (ppmv), but have risen by about 36 per cent to about 380 ppmv in the last (20th) century. In the same manner [3], found that since the arrival of industrialization, the concentrations of methane (CH4) and CO2 have risen by 70 per cent beginning from 1970 to 2004. The [4] concluded that the rise in global temperature often referred to as global warming is real. The report further affirmed that the mean earth heat has increased by 0.76°C and sea level has risen by 17 cm in nineteenth century. Likewise, some world's leading climate scientist in 2008, strongly advocates urgent reduction of CO2 emission [2] to forestall calamity. According to the experts, "*paleoclimate* signal and current climate fluctuations suggest that there is need for reducing atmospheric carbon-dioxide from its current 385 ppmv to at most 350 ppmv, else, the consequences would be irremediable tragedy [5].

The gap between the elite and the poor is getting wider as a result of the havocs of the climate change. As the hazards strains the financial resources of the rich, it further impoverish the poor, thereby aggravating their vulnerability. As often revealed in reports, the cost of climate fluctuations calamity across the globe is usually enormous. For instance, flooding in Sante Fe, Argentina displaced one-third of the city population and affected 27,928 households [6]. Damages were approximated at US\$ 1 billion: US\$ 752,000,000 in manufacturing, animal husbandry, agriculture and trade sectors; US\$ 180,000,000 in infrastructure damages while societal loss was put at US\$ 91,000,000 [6]. In Nigeria, the destructive pattern of inclement weather elements have aggravated socio-economic and infrastructure damage and loss. [7] recorded that an estimate of US\$ 45 million was lost annually in twelve states due to erratic heavy winds, heavy rain and storm surge in 16 years. By implication, the sum of US\$ 2.2 billion was lost across the thirty-six states and the federal capital territory within the period. The report further showed that the overall financial loss as a result of the rising precipitation and heavy wind rose from US\$ 23.6 million to US\$ 82.2 million between 1992 and 2007, with the highest of USD91.5 million in 2006 and lowest of US\$ 17.97 million in 1994 respectively. Across the globe, coastal cities are witnessing unprecedented rise in sea level, massive flooding, horrendous storm/hurricane, severe erosion, saltwater incursion and disruption in sedimentation formation [8]. It was further revealed that tropical gales upset 1.4 billion people, which constitutes 24 percent of the riverine settlers. Furthermore, in 2010, floods tragedy in Pakistan and Chile affected about 18,102,237 and 134,000,000 people, caused 1985 and 1691 deaths and damages estimated at US\$ 9.5 billion and US\$ 18 billion respectively [9]. Hurricane Katrina that ravaged New Orleans in 2005 also caused the death of 1833 persons, displacement of 500,000 people and a loss of US\$ 125 billion. In Senegal, the World Bank estimates the value of assets exposed to flooding at about €40 billion (Forty billion Euro), twice the Gross Domestic Product of the country [10]. According to [11], over the past ten years, climate change has caused about 3852 catastrophes, the death of more than 780,000 and displaced over 2 billion people with property worth more than US\$ 960 billion lost to the tragedy.

Arising from the above, the reality of climate change and its huge financial implications of the consequences become very conspicuous. Reports across the world according to [12] showed disturbing pattern of climate change consequences.

#### *The Nexus of Climate Change, Urban Infrastructure and Sustainable Development… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107283*

Nonetheless, public discourse generally has attributed disparate level of urgency to issues of climate change thereby prioritizing it above other critical economic and environmental debacles that threaten human existence. Davenport et al. [13] stated that up to 70 member states of the United Nations significantly prioritize climate change risk above security risk. Nations have essentially ascribed the various socio-economic, ecological, environmental, political and security problems to climate change. [14] observed that most countries face economic, political, and social hardship resulting from uncertainties occasioned by climate change hazards. According to [15], countries like Turkey, Brazil, Egypt and Iraq are confronted with security risk triggered by the conflict among armed forces due to the consequences of climate change. A notable example of security challenge of continental significance is the herders' militancy in Nigeria whose violent clashes with farmers have always claim lifes and properties.

Whilst not playing down the danger that climate change poses, it is important to know that the spate of havocs wrecked by climate change events in recent times is as a result of aggressive industrialization and urbanization in the last two centuries. Besides, there are numerous challenges in rural and urban areas around the world that have undermined human dignity and normal/decent existence over the years. These challenges have been aggravated in recent times by climate change. The diverse socioeconomic, political, environmental and security challenges in different countries are first and foremost, symptoms of policy failure, bad governance, mismanagement and lack of political will especially in developing countries. These consequently get complicated by the erratic climate manifestations. In this regards, the universal perspective of climate change hazards tends to obfuscate the experience at regional and local levels. Therefore, prioritizing climate change problems over other basic societal challenges engender the risk of mis-characterization, misplaced focus, waste of scarce resources, death and damages to properties and environment. Certainly, climate change according to [8] is intricately connected to urbanization, but not the most severe environmental issues facing humanity. Hardoy and Pandiella [16] concluded that climate change has put the already vulnerable urban settlements under enormous stress thereby making the situation require quick and comprehensive approach to resolve the problems. The socio-economic and environmental problems facing developing nations include acute poverty, widespread illiteracy, insecurity, gender inequality, environmental pollution, infrastructure deficit, unemployment and poor governance to mention a few. In the light of the foregoing, it becomes imperative to put in context the diverse challenges that confront developing countries and develop a comprehensive framework to resolve them. Finding solutions to these issues engender the resilience of human settlements against the impact of climate change in Nigeria and other developing countries.

## **2. Theoretical framework: theory of change**

This study is anchored on the postulations of the theory of change as explained in [17, 18]. The theory of change according to [19] has a wide range of possible uses in developing, managing and evaluating interventions that are meant to produce a desired long term change. Reinholz and Andrews [20] described a set of assumptions that should be taken to achieve a long term goal as well as the linkages between the activities and results of an intervention program. Davies [21] stated that theory of change is a process that is meant to evolve an articulated sequence of events that will eventually usher in the expected outcome. The study further described the theory as

a strategic map that shows the multiple interventions required to produce immediate results and are pre-conditioned to a long time change. It depicts the pathway that is consistent to producing the impact expected to support the desired long term change. In the application of the theory of change, [22] suggest that to accomplish a successful change, there is need to empower the driving forces and weaken the restraining forces. This according to [22] could be achieved through the following:


The relevance of the theory of change to the current study is contained in the inherent popular interest to tackle the environmental and ecological hazards unleashed by global warming. The incidence of climate change has been debated in the past decades, however, the reality is being established by the ominous signs of its impacts globally. Notwithstanding, the hype about the phenomenon in developing countries distract attention from issues that are grave, grievous and constitute daily threat to human existence in this part of the globe. As such the study believe in prompt intervention as enunciated in the theory of change and align with [22] to empower the driving forces and weaken the restraining forces especially for the developing nations. This could be achieved by developing appropriate policy and developmental interventions in the areas of urbanization process and infrastructure delivery based on the principles of sustainable development. This would ultimately reinforce the capacity to withstand and combat the periodic barge of climate change in less advanced countries.
