“The Lake Chad Basin is an important source of fresh water on which more than 40m people in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Niger and Nigeria depend.”, African Review of Business and Technology, 26th February, 2018.
The international dimension of saving Lake Chad has seen the commitment of various actors to this singular endeavour. A global partnership between UNESCO and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) that has been ongoing since 2011 led to the convening of the International Conference on Lake Chad, in Abuja, from 26-28 February 2018. In the same year, that partnership translated into discussions around the biosphere and heritage of the Lake Chad project, which bears the French acronym BIOPALT. The project was dedicated to the preservation of the Lake’s ecosystem by undertaking research into areas like wetlands rehabilitation, protection of wildlife corridors, sustainable fisheries development and promotion of the green economy.
BIOPALT was given impetus by the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) through a three-year funding mechanism to study the entire spectrum of sustainable use of Lake Chad’s resources and their preservation for future generations. These efforts aim not only to protect the surface waters of the Lake, but also to study and manage the underground water reservoirs in the vicinity of the Lake to ensure the efficient use of this vital resource. The project’s key findings indicated that Lake Chad basin had experienced significant ecological degradation including a reduction of the Lake’s surface area by more than 90% between 1960 and 1985, leading to biodiversity loss and ecosystem imbalances.
The negative socio-economic impacts of this were widely felt in the communities adjacent to the Lake and far afield in all the neighbouring countries as well. The adverse security implications of the Lake’s drying up have been evident in the rapid and widespread phenomenon of insecurity in the entire basin, that countries are still grappling with. The logical measures to be immediately implemented in the aftermath of the BIOPALT study, is to embark on ecosystem restoration throughout the Lake Chad basin, in particular, to affect the transfer of water into the Lake from rivers in Central Africa. This inter-basin water transfer scheme which has been on the drawing board for so many decades, has been deemed as the most effective and sustainable way to remedy the situation regarding Lake Chad.
If this is implemented, the restoration of degraded ecosystems such as ponds, oases, forests, grazing lands, and floodplains to enhance biodiversity and support sustainable livelihoods, would be achieved as well. The promotion of the green economy and the extension of the blue economy from the Atlantic Ocean to the Lake Chad, would inevitably create vast opportunities for income-generating activities to be developed, as well as other projects like sustainable tourism and the valorisation of local culture and products, to improve livelihoods and reduce poverty once security is enhanced in the region.
Here, a word about trans-boundary corporation is needed. Establishing a trans-boundary biosphere such as being studied by UNESCO and LCBC, would facilitate the establishment of greater biosphere reserves and World Heritage sites to promote peace and collaborative management of shared resources amongst communities and countries. With such trans-boundary collaborations in place, the use of cross-boundary water resources like Lake Chad can be better managed and more effectively undertaken. It will also make it easier for countries to access underground water resources along agreed lines.
The assessment by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the underground water reserves of the vast Sahel region using nuclear-based techniques, which also included the Lake Chad and Taoudeni basins, hold greater prospects for access to fresh water by humans and for other uses in decades to come. The replenishment of the aquifers in the region is only possible when surface water bodies such as Lake Chad survive and continue to drain their waters into these reservoirs over sustained periods of time.
With the likelihood of the Lake’s drying up and the increased pumping of ground water to meet irrigation and other human needs, the possibility of diminished aquifers can be expected with the passage of time. To avert such outcomes and ensure the survival of Lake Chad for several more generations to come, it is imperative that the Federal Government of Nigeria acts in a consistent and commensurate manner to meet both national and international expectations regarding such an existential project. Keeping Lake Chad alive so to speak, is the central aspect of the two expectations and the numerous initiatives that have been directed towards the Lake’s well-being over so many decades.
Droughts and famines are recurring aspects of life in the Sahel region throughout the 20th century, with the latest being experienced as late as 2012. These natural phenomena can be averted with the increased conservation of water resources and their efficient management towards meeting food security and the betterment of the livelihoods of populations. A nonchalant attitude or dismissive posture towards the issue of water conservation is a perilous position that can only expose our country and the entire region to serious and unmitigated disasters.
The many opportunities offered by international regimes such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the latest outcomes of the Conference of Parties (COP) among others, should be leveraged towards the remediation of the Lake Chad. Assistance offered by the AfDB for instance to the LCBC will go a long way in conducting research and implementing results towards the best ways in which Lake Chad should be recharged.
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