Lake Chad is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake located mainly in the far west of Chad, bordering on northeastern Nigeria. The entire geographical basin of the Lake Chad covers 8 percent of the surface area of the African continent, shared between the countries of Algeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Libya, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan.
Lake Chad is the largest, fresh water reservoir in the Sahel region of Africa. The Lake has been a cultural and trading Centre for many centuries and provided the vital transit place for trans‐African merchants. The resources of the Lake and its basin provided the subsistence for the livelihood of more than 30 million people, most of whom are farmers, fishermen and livestock breeders. But today the resources are fast diminishing as a result of several decades of droughts and desertification caused by shortage of rainfall, high winds and temperature rise in the Sahel region. Most of the people are now refugees in their own land while many of them along with their herds have migrated southward and are still migrating.
The shrinking of the lake has also caused several different conflicts to emerge as to which countries that border Lake Chad have the rights to the remaining water. Along with the conflicts that involve the countries, violence is increasing among the lake's dwellers. Farmers and herders want the water for their crops and livestock and are constantly diverting the water. The fishermen however want the remaining water in the lake to stay so they can continue to fish and not have to worry about the lake shrinking more and decreasing their already strained supply of fish. Furthermore the birds and animals in the area are threatened as they are important sources of food for the local human population.
The looming crisis which has common root cause of climatic change aided by anthropogenic activities has several facets: the Lake Chad has shrunk by as much as 90% over the past three decades; most of the citizens of the basin have no domestic water services – clean or even unclean – just to get by, many suffer from avoidable malnutrition and diseases caused by poor sanitation; the people and governments lack the wherewithal to solve the problems. Yet, if the situation is left unattended, it could lead to serious regional catastrophe with significant global repercussions.
The problem of the Lake Chad is actually manifold, as listed below:
• The variability of the hydrological regime and the dramatic decrease in freshwater availability.
• The relatively high rating of water pollution mainly due to commercial cotton and rice production known to use large quantities of agro-chemicals.
• The low viability of biological resources which pertains to the inability of the regenerative rates of the
plant and animal resources to keep pace with exploitation and disturbances.
• The loss of biodiversity, in particular loss of plant and animal species, as well as damages to ecosystem health.
• The destruction and modification of ecosystem due to the change of the Lake from an open water system to a marshy environment.
• The sedimentation of rivers and water courses that has led to a reduction in the inflows to the Lake.
• The proliferation of invasive species.
Measures related to improved adaptation and prediction systems, environmental planning, information pooling, the exchange of information on best practices, strengthened technical cooperation and close cooperation with policy-makers and all stakeholders must be implemented urgently in the Lake Chad Basin.
Lake Chad is the largest, fresh water reservoir in the Sahel region of Africa. The Lake has been a cultural and trading Centre for many centuries and provided the vital transit place for trans‐African merchants. The resources of the Lake and its basin provided the subsistence for the livelihood of more than 30 million people, most of whom are farmers, fishermen and livestock breeders. But today the resources are fast diminishing as a result of several decades of droughts and desertification caused by shortage of rainfall, high winds and temperature rise in the Sahel region. Most of the people are now refugees in their own land while many of them along with their herds have migrated southward and are still migrating.
The shrinking of the lake has also caused several different conflicts to emerge as to which countries that border Lake Chad have the rights to the remaining water. Along with the conflicts that involve the countries, violence is increasing among the lake's dwellers. Farmers and herders want the water for their crops and livestock and are constantly diverting the water. The fishermen however want the remaining water in the lake to stay so they can continue to fish and not have to worry about the lake shrinking more and decreasing their already strained supply of fish. Furthermore the birds and animals in the area are threatened as they are important sources of food for the local human population.
The looming crisis which has common root cause of climatic change aided by anthropogenic activities has several facets: the Lake Chad has shrunk by as much as 90% over the past three decades; most of the citizens of the basin have no domestic water services – clean or even unclean – just to get by, many suffer from avoidable malnutrition and diseases caused by poor sanitation; the people and governments lack the wherewithal to solve the problems. Yet, if the situation is left unattended, it could lead to serious regional catastrophe with significant global repercussions.
The problem of the Lake Chad is actually manifold, as listed below:
• The variability of the hydrological regime and the dramatic decrease in freshwater availability.
• The relatively high rating of water pollution mainly due to commercial cotton and rice production known to use large quantities of agro-chemicals.
• The low viability of biological resources which pertains to the inability of the regenerative rates of the
plant and animal resources to keep pace with exploitation and disturbances.
• The loss of biodiversity, in particular loss of plant and animal species, as well as damages to ecosystem health.
• The destruction and modification of ecosystem due to the change of the Lake from an open water system to a marshy environment.
• The sedimentation of rivers and water courses that has led to a reduction in the inflows to the Lake.
• The proliferation of invasive species.
Measures related to improved adaptation and prediction systems, environmental planning, information pooling, the exchange of information on best practices, strengthened technical cooperation and close cooperation with policy-makers and all stakeholders must be implemented urgently in the Lake Chad Basin.
Nice one buddy...