The future of lake Chad

To sum up, I showed different weak spots of the region, mainly generated by the increasing need for water and food supply forced by the increasing population. This is leading to a decreasing river flow and decreasing lake water levels. Moreover, the high evapotranspiration and the possible effects of climate change are going to be a challenge for the lake Chad.

But I also showed solutions to refill the lake and to provide the local people with a safe water supply. Starting by an increased use of groundwater resources, more effective use of irrigation water up to the trans boundary water transfer project.

But to safe lake Chad every stakeholder needs to pull in the same direction, starting by the member states of the LCBC. In additions, there is need for more education for the local people, concerning how to use water and how pollution might affect them. Furthermore, to safe they lake, the region and the people, there is need for more international attention. At my opinion, they will need more support in the future, mainly in form of money, but also advice to prevent the lake from drying out.

To conclude, there is still an opportunity for the persistence of the lake. But we have to act now before it is to late!

To underline the necessity, I will temporary end my blog with a picture of the dried lake.

Figure 15: aiolusnews 2013

This is going to be my last post for the next time, I wrote this blog for a specific lecture at my university, which is going to end soon. But it does not mean that I will stop blogging about this topic, but maybe I am going to reduce the frequency of my entries.

I hope you enjoyed reading the blog so far, until next time!