Adaptation Initiatives to Flood Risks in the Downstream Section of River Niger Flood Plain in Mokwa Local Government Area of Niger State

Flood is a well-known phenomenon in the flood plain of River Niger. Despite its threats, communities continue to live there because of its economic benefits. Approaches to reduce it risks have not produced the desired results because of the conventional methods that overlooked and ignored communities' initiatives for lack of real evidence base to understand its importance. This paper identifies and appraises these initiatives to understand its importance. To achieve this, the research adopted qualitative method for data collection. Forty-five settlements were identified with 28,695persons. Nine settlements were selected using purposive sampling and 135 interviews and 9 FGDs were conducted. The participants were systematically selected. The findings indicated that communities have wealth of knowledge and experiences regarding flood threats and have developed adaptive initiatives to manage the situations. Recommendations highlighted the need for its integration with the scientific approaches.