The Shrinking Lake Chad

                                               The Shrinking Lake Chad

Lake Chad used to be Africa’s 2^nd largest Lake after Lake Victoria in the Rift Valley, and a source of livelihood to over 30 million people drawn from 4 countries. However, Geographers and Hydrologists have predicted the disappearance of this all important lake from the face of the earth in the next 20 years, if the southward advancement of the Sahara desert is not deterred.

Hitherto farmers, fishermen and water transporters from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroun and Chad republics depended solely on the abundant waters of the lake and resources derivable from it to earn a wealthy living. But today, the lake had shrunken to only 20^th of its original size, thereby producing lesser quantity and quality of fishes, lesser water for the irrigation channels and transportation networks.

To reverse this ugly trend and give another lease of life to the disillusioned dependents of the Lake Chad, the governments of the benefiting countries must adopt newer measures of conserving and preserving the lake as well as the fauna and flora around it. Environmentalists believe that the best way to achieve that is through, the creation of shelterbelts to forestall the further advancement of the desert as well as channel surrounding rivers into the drying lake to supplement its water supply.

Also, the authorities in charge of the Lake Chad basin must adopt more proactive measures of easing the lake of overuse and excessive evaporation to put a stop to the threat of disappearance.