Some experts at the ongoing environment forum in Yaounde have expressed concern over the falling levels of the once great water reservoir.
The falling level of water in Lake Chad has been described as a manifestation of climate change and desertification. Some experts participating at the one-week Environment Forum that started in Yaounde on Monday 24 October to end tomorrow Friday 28 October, have expressed deep concern over the present state of Lake Chad and its effects on agriculture and livestock rearing particularly, and livelihoods of the 30 million people living around the lake, in general. “Without water, there is no agriculture and pasture for livestock. Most of the agriculture going on in the Lake Chad Basin depends on water from Lake Chad,” said Charles Ossou Zolo, member of the Biodiversity and Natural Resource Sustainable Management Committee at the forum.
Lake Chad was one of the biggest water reservoirs in the world. Experts say climate change and demographic pressure have in recent decades caused the lake to reduce by 90 per cent, falling from 25,000 square kilometres in 1963 to less than 2,000 square kilometres in 2011. The American space agency, NASA, has even predicted that if the water level keeps dropping at its present rate, the lake will completely disappear in twenty years. On the ground experts say, this could happen if urgent measures are not taken. Besides a fall of 60 per cent fish production, pastures have also been degraded, leading to a reduction in animal heads. All socio-economic activities are affected while the over-exploitation of water and land resources causes conflicts and migrations among the 30-million population of the area.
Speaking to Cameroon Tribune, Charles Ossou Zolo said the Cameroonian government is doing much to develop Lake Chad. “Reforestation around the lake is going on to give the area a new microclimate that will help preserve the lake’s waters,” he said. Under “Operation Green Sahel”, the Ministry of the Environment and Nature Protection, MINEP, has reforested over 700 hectares in the lake’s basin. This adds to efforts by the Lake Chad Basin Commission created in 1964 to regulate the use of the water and other natural resources in the area while seeking ways of reconstituting the lake. In that regard, feasibility studies are underway for an ambitious programme to change the course of the Oubangui River, which now flows into River Congo, towards River Chari and unto Lake Chad. While waiting, Charles Ossou Zolo thinks an immediate measure will be to clean the sediments and plants on beds and banks of the Logone and Chari Rivers for these obstruct the normal flow of water into Lake Chad.
