Our beleaguered Lake Chad

As the world marked the 2020 environment day on June 5 as set aside by the UN, one of the world’s environmental eyesores remains the devastated Lake Chad Basin that hitherto served as a source of livelihood to about 30 million people, as well as millions of flora and fauna which are now at the verge of extinctinction.

The basin, surrounded by Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, covering an area of about 26,000 square kilometres, has now contracted to less than 10 per cent of its former size. It was the sixth largest lake and the largest inland drainage area on the continent of Africa.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), about half of the shrinkage of Lake Chad has been caused by climate change, unsustainable irrigation, deforestation, overgrazing and population increase resulting in the replacement of the natural vegetation with invasive plant species.

The lake has been labelled an ecological catastrophe by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Both Islamic and western education have also suffered a major set back in the past decade in the Lake Chad region due to armed conflicts that have claimed over 3 million lives and rendered over three million people Interanally Displaced Persons (IDPs); leading to mallams and teachers relocating to major towns of Geidam, Monguno, Damaturu and Maiduguri, Yola, Abuja, among others; abandoning their noble work.

Agricultural production in the region that was once a major source of fish, maize, sorghum, millet and beans in the country is now history. The country now relies on food aid from donors and NGOs because of the displacement of farming families and villages. It is sad that farmers that hitherto cultivated for both subsistence and commercial purposes have found themselves at the mercy of food aid.

Therefore, saving the Lake Chad region from extinction will require concerted effort from the world over, not Africa alone, because the repercussions will be devastating, especially through illegal migration and other security concerns.

Interstingly, the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, has been drumming support for the revival of the lake at all fora; from Paris to Poland to the UN.

Another feasible way of stabilising the Lake Chad region is through aggressive climate change mitigation efforts by all concerned: massive afforestation, climate-smart agricultural practices, sourcing of alternative means of energy for the people other than firewood, investment in solar power generation, enforcement and review of our obsolete deforestation laws to reflect present day realities, among other measures.

Mulima Idi Mato, Ashiekri Ward, Geidam - mulimaim@gmail.com