Climate change, religious conlficts and economic crisis have taken toll on people and environment . One of Africa’s largest freshwater bodies, the Lake Chad, has shrunk by 90 per cent. Over 10 million people across the region are in need of emergency assistance. The United Nations has term the Lake Chad crisis as “one of the worst in the world”.
Lake Chad in the Sahel straddles Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon and is home to 17.4 million people. It is blessed with rich aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity. The Lake Chad basin comprises biosphere reserves, World Heritage and Ramsar sites as well as wetlands of international conservation importance.
For years, the lake has been supporting drinking water, irrigation, fishing, livestock and economic activity for over 30 million people in the region. It is vital for indigenous, pastoral and farming communities in one of the world’s poorest countries. However, climate change has fuelled massive environmental and humanitarian crisis.

Climate change: A looming peril
The lake has shrunk 90 per cent over the last 60 years, since the chronic droughts surged at the beginning of 1970s. The surface area of the lake was 26,000 square kilometres in 1963; it has now reduced to less than 1,500 square kilometres. Its population is exploding and the region has been ripped apart from conflict at an unprecedented scale.
The ever-changing climate has dramatically worsened the situation, amplifying food and nutritional insecurity in the region. Temperature is rising one-and-a-half times faster than the global average. The seasonal and inter-rainfall patterns have been drastically changing each year. This has triggered food insecurity, ultimately pushing communities into the arms of terrorist groups.
Locals are facing challenges to sustain their lives — their ability to adapt to climate change is diminishing. Earlier, the situation was different. Take for instance, if rain failed, people often move to other suitable locations to farm or graze their herds, but due to heavy military restriction as a part of counter-insurgency efforts, these options are no longer available.
This is a great setback to the inherent ability of the people to deal with climate change and its effects.

Rising conflicts
Researchers working in the Lake Chad Basin have highlighted a range of factors feeding the region’s instability. These include persistence economic crisis; divisive reforms; poor governance; rising inequality and bourgeoning corruption among the ruling political elite.
Countries of the Lake Chad basin are among the 10 least peaceful countries in Africa, according to 2020 Global Terrorism Index report. For more than a decade, the people of Lake Chad were engulfed in a violent conflict trap between state security forces and armed opposition groups.

Boko Haram is one of the top insurgent groups with a strong foothold in the region. The conflict has displaced nearly 2.5 million people across the neighbouring countries. Over 10,000 deaths were reported between 2009 and 2016, according to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program.
Boko Haram controls large swathes of territory, including key access roads. For humanitarian workers reaching the areas, plane or helicopter is expensive and at times risky as well. As a result, hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons have been deprived of humanitarian aid.

Competition over scarce resources
The depleting natural resources and grazing lands in the region has increased conflict between farmers and pastoralists. Around 4,000 people died in Nigeria as a result of farmer-pastoralist conflicts between 2016 and 2019. Poor livelihood and lack of income generation opportunities in the region compels young people to join rebel groups and engage in anti-social activities. READ FURTHER FROM THE SOURCE