The shrinking of Lake Chad, which is bordered
by 4 African countries (Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad),
is already an ecological catastrophe but it is fast
becoming a very human disaster as well. The 30 million people who live in the
lake region are being forced into ever-keener competition for this vital and
disappearing resource. The drying-up of the lake water and deterioration
of the production capacity of its basin have affected all the socio-economic
activities, leading to internal exodus and increased pressure on the natural
resources and conflicts between the populations. In addition to the approximately 60% decline
in fish production, there has been degradation of pasturelands, leading to shortage
of dry matter estimated at 46.5% in certain places in 2006, reduction in
the livestock population, and threat to biodiversity.
 The situation in the Lake Chad Basin is one of the most important untold stories
of recent times. The lake was once one of the largest water bodies on the planet
and due to climatic variability, climate change and human pressure on water resources
in its basin over recent decades, the lake has shrunk by 90% from 25000
square kms in 1963 to less than 1500 square kilometers in 2001. At the current rate
of recession of the water body, the Lake could disappear about twenty years from
now, according to climate forecasts of NASA.
Something must be done urgently to reverse the tragic disappearance of Lake Chad
if the livelihoods of this vast area are to be safeguarded. This realization
led to the setting up in 1964 of The Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC). Representatives
of the Lake Chad Basin countries that border the lake meet to regulate and control
the utilization of water and other natural resources in the Basin and they, in
partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
and Development Partners are actively seeking new models of Adaptive Water Management
that take account of traditional agricultural techniques as well as the need
to ensure food security for the people of the region.
There is a realization by the Lake Chad Basin Commission that the diminished
flow  of water into the lake means that, alongside a radical change in water management
techniques, a scheme to replenish the water in Lake Chad is necessary.
The flow of the two main sources of replenishment for the lake, the Chari and
Logone rivers have decreased significantly in the last 40 years. The Feasibility
Study for an ambitious programme to divert water flow from the Oubangui, the
major tributary of the Congo River, into the Chari river system will be presented
at the Special Event on October 16th.
Top | 
