- Development & Aid - Economy & Trade - Human Rights - Global
Governance - Civil Society Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - Approaching
the Lake Chad basin from Gulfe, a small locality 45 kilometres
from Cameroon’s Far North Regional capital Maroua, the
atmosphere of despair is palpable: dusty air, fierce and
unrelenting winds, wilting plants and sand dunes suggest that
this once lush area is undergoing a terrible change. Nothing
breaks the expanse of sparse vegetation but the occasional
withered tree and some scorched shrubs. Bordered by Chad,
Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, Lake Chad once spanned 25,000
square kilometres but in the last half century it has shrunk by
90 percent, its total surface area now covering a mere 2,500
square kilometres. As a result of feeble rainfall, the Chari and
the Logone – the two main rivers that feed the lake – are
bringing less and less water each year. Herders, fisherfolk and
farmers who have relied for generations on the rich soil of this
basin are now struggling to survive, as the gr