Saving Lake Chad

It is alarming that a humanitarian crisis is fast developing as a consequence of the continuing threats to the Lake Chad Basin in the West African sub-region. It is a reflection of how the scale of the emergency has escalated that the United Nations (UN) has renewed its focus on the deteriorating situation.

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, who visited Nigeria this month in connection with the crisis, said: “The crisis in the Lake Chad Basin, including Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad, has continuously deteriorated over the last two years.” He added: “insecurity, violence by Boko Haram and counter-insurgency measures, have uprooted over 2.4 million people, making it the fastest growing displacement crisis in Africa.”

The activities of terrorists further compounded a complicated situation. Lamentably, most of the people living around the lake have been displaced by natural forces. Decades of drought and desertification brought about by shortage of rainfall, high winds and temperature rise in the region have resulted in diminishing resources in the basin.

Lake Chad, the largest fresh water reservoir in the Sahel region of Africa, is an important resource shared by Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Central African Republic. The lake and its basin sustain over 30 million people, who are largely farmers, fishermen and livestock breeders.

However, the lake has shrunk to nearly one twentieth of its size, causing serious environmental degradation, such as loss of biodiversity, loss and modification of ecosystem, desertification and sedimentation of the water bodies. Indeed, the lake has been described as an ecological disaster by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, a description that underlines its ecological role as well as the reversal of that role. Apart from the effect of the lake’s decrease on the expanding human population, there is documented evidence of endangered flora and fauna in the Lake Chad area.

It is noteworthy that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) attributed the lake’s shrinkage to changing climate patterns and unsustainable human water use. The point is that there is no single cause for the disappearance of Lake Chad. Global warming is one factor blamed, apart from rainfall which has been steadily reducing by about five to 10mm a year. Other identified factors are irrigation and the damming of rivers feeding the lake for hydro-electric schemes. Even a 2001 study “blamed the lake’s retreat largely on overgrazing in the area surrounding the lake, causing desertification and a decline in vegetation”.

But beyond causes and effects, it is commendable that the UN is seriously pursuing solutions. The lake and its basin are of such ecological significance that their sustenance must be pursued with a sense of urgency.

Over the years, there have been efforts to save Lake Chad. A report highlighted when such efforts began and the dimensions: “Plans to divert the Ubangi River into Lake Chad were proposed in 1929 by Herman Sorgel in his Atlantropa project and again in the 1960s. The copious amount of water from the Ubangi would revitalise the dying Lake Chad and provide livelihood in fishing and enhanced agriculture to tens of millions of central Africans and Sahelians.”

It continued: “Interbasin water transfer schemes were proposed in the 1980s and 1990s by Nigerian engineer J. Umolu (ZCN scheme) and Italian firm Bonifica (Transaqua scheme). In 1994, the LCBC proposed a similar project, and at a March 2008 summit, the heads of state of the LCBC member countries committed to the diversion project. In April 2008, the LCBC advertised a request for proposals for a World Bank-funded feasibility study. Neighbouring countries have agreed to commit resources to restoring the lake, notably Nigeria.”

The efforts to save the lake must continue. There is no question that the management of the lake requires greater resources and expertise, and the involvement of the UN is certainly a welcome intervention.