Lake Chad Water conflict

Water Conflict - Lake Chad

The Lake Chad is a lake in Africa surrounded by the countries Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria. It is the main water source and provided more than 20 million people which live in the countries surrounding it. Due reduced rainfall over the years the lake is shrinking and increased pressure for irrigation resulting in both environmental degradation and social unrest. Even though action has been taken establishing the lake chad  basin commission, there is only little improvement in the current water crisis.The consequent for this followed that from this  can be learnt that the mere existence of agreements and institutions is not sufficient for securing success, but there also needs to be a strong political will for implementation.

With a size of 26,000 km² Lake chad was the fourth biggest lake in Africa, this measurement was taken in the 1900. When a new measurement was taken in the 2000 the result showed that there was an decrease in size that the lake has shrunk to 1,500 km². This is due the reduced rainfall and the increased pressure fore irrigation being drawn from the rivers feeding the lake.

The shrinking of the lake has also caused several different conflicts to emerge as to which country that borders Lake Chad has the rights to the remaining water. Along with the conflicts that involve the countries, violence is increasing between the lake's dwellers.

The water source is extremely important as it is not only a valuable drinking source but also has a variety of different proposes. Farmers and herders need the water for their crops and livestocks and are constantly diverting the water. The fisherman claim the remaining water in the lake so they can continue to fish the more the lake shrinks the more their existence's is threatened since more fish loose their habitat and die. Furthermore the birds and animals are also in great danger this is a challenging matter since the birds and animals are an important source of food for the local people.

Actions being taken

The successful demarcation exercise of international boundaries between Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon between 1988-1992 which now formed the basis of the dispute settlement between Cameroun and Nigeria by International Court of Justice. They developed the master basin plan in colloberation with experts from the member states which are supported by FAO, UNDP, and UNSO. The Plan was prepared with identification of 36 priority projects. One of these projects included the water transfer form  transfer from Oubangui to Lake Chad.

Even though there are basic documents adopted by key stakeholders in Lake Chad, there are still not significant improvements in river basin management. This is due the fact that the main reason for the water decrease is because of climate. The main factors are a combination of of effects of climate fluctuations and unsustainable water projects that led to significant reductions in the flows of the rivers that drain into Lake Chad.