Natural Resources Depletion, Pollution and Restoration of Lake Chad

Abstract

Lake Chad, one of the largest lakes in Africa with an estimated surface area of 2,434,700 km2 covers about 8% of the continent and a geographical basin cutting across Western and Central Africa. The lake is surrounded by various ecological zones such as deserts, forests, wetlands, savannas, mountains and rich diversity of flora and fauna, some of which are peculiar to the region. The lake provides water supply, groundwater recharge, fishery, support livestock, water-based transportation, wood and forest products, irrigation, mining, and oil exploration. Over the years, the lake has drastically reduced in size due to several anthropogenic factors such as climate change, over-exploitation of natural resources and population growth which have acted synergistically to affect the lake resulting in shrinking to about 10% of its original size. These activities have led toa significant decline in biodiversity and pollution of surface and groundwater, sediments and soil. The ambitious plan for restoring Lake Chad will be practically impossible without a comprehensive institutional and regulatory reform, environmental assessment, and effective remediation and restoration efforts. As the population depending on the basin is projected to reach about 66 million people by 2025, there is a need for robust management of the natural resources of the basin for sustainable development of the region.