Organization: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Lake Chad, once one of the world’s largest water bodies, and is disappearing due to climate change and population pressures, resulting in a humanitarian disaster in central Africa, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned.

The lake – surrounded by Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria – has shrunk by 90 percent, going from 25,000 km2 in 1963 to less than 1,500 km2 in 2001.

The 30 million people living in the Lake Chad region compete over water, and the drying up of the lake could lead to migration and conflicts, according to FAO.

Fish production has recorded a 60 percent decline, while pasturelands have been degraded, resulting in a shortage of animal feed, livestock and biodiversity.

The agency collaborates with the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), founded in 1964 which brings together countries in the region regularly to discuss regulation and control of water use.

A radical change in water management techniques is needed to stem the diminishing flow of water into Lake Chad, according to the body.

Keywords: transboundary waters, water scarcity.

Location: Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, Africa

Corresponding websites:

>> UN News Centre: Shrinking Lake Chad could trigger humanitarian disaster, UN agency warns
>> Africa’s vanishing Lake Chad