Lake Chad Is Shrinking

Lake Chad lies next to the Sahara in western Africa. This shallow lake (16–26 feet; 5–8 m) has been shown in air surveys and satellite imagery to expand and shrink with intermittent droughts that occur in the region. Since 1960, however, Lake Chad has not followed this pattern; rather the lake has shrunk to one-tenth of its normal size. Villagers from countries bordering Lake Chad—Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, and Niger—have
relied on the lake’s fish for generations, but the steady downward trend spells disaster for an area of the world already burdened by hunger and water stress. One resident told the BBC in 2006, “Survival becomes a real problem here because we have no means of other livelihood. We solely depend on the water, and when there’s not enough we have a serious problem.” Bata Ndahi, director of Nigeria’s Lake Chad Research Institute, added, “The water is moving farther and farther away. We believe desertification has contributed most to the demise of Lake Chad.” The villagers who once depended on fish cannot reach the water, so they have turned the exposed land over to planting crops that do not supply enough protein for the human diet.

The Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) now includes representatives from the four bordering countries plus the Central African Republic to devise ways to save Lake Chad. The ambitious program intends to return the 373,360-square-mile (967,000-km2) area to near its former size by starting new types of water management, shoreline care, water efficiency in the surrounding cities, and by studying an aquifer that has potential to supply water during drought. The LCBC realizes that desertification has made Lake Chad’s future questionable, but years of water inefficiencies and damming rather than drought may have caused the worst abuse to the lake. LCBC director Wakil Bakar told the BBC, “It’s going to be a massive project, but the end result is what we’re after. This lake has to be saved. We know the benefit. We know how people have suffered. All the countries—Chad, Niger, Cameroon, Nigeria—we know what we have lost. It’s going to
be a huge benefit to all of us.” The Lake Chad restoration project therefore faces dual challenges: restoring a severely damaged ecosystem and returning a healthy water system to an area decimated by desertification.

The LCBC’s plans have not yet saved Lake Chad. Little progress has been made in stopping the lake from disappearing, and the region struggles with poverty, food, and water conflicts, and wars in neighboring countries. In 2008 Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua expressed his concern to the Voice of America: “Over the next four decades, it is projected that the present population of 30 million will increase by almost 100 percent, resulting in 30 to 50 percent more water drawn. . . . Already the region is water-stressed. Unless urgent action is taken, the situation could escalate to crisis proportions, further diminishing Lake Chad’s capacity to be of value to those whose livelihood depends on it.” Unless the LCBC project succeeds, Lake Chad may become one of history’s worst victims of drought and desertification.

Lake Chad has not yet disappeared forever, and the LCBC’s plan still has a chance to work. The plan contains the following main directives: (1) establish coordination among national agencies that work on the project; (2) strengthen regional policies on water use; (3) recruit local communities by providing incentives and education; (4) develop water conservation methods; and (5) solicit funds from donors. These objectives are general and contain no specific details on how water conservation will be implemented in the area or how a water system infrastructure will be built. Without these details and quick action, Lake Chad’s future remains very much in doubt.

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