By Elias Ntungwe Ngalame
PARIS, France (PAMACC News) - African governments especially
those of the Lake Chad Basin region want to secure the future of the precious
but dwindling water body.
The officials and experts have
expressed the need for adaptation actions as a priority to save the Lake and
the lives of the over 20 million people living in the area.
Members of the Lake Chad Basin
Commission at the presentation of a new plan of action to revive the lake at
COP21 in Paris, December 2, 2015 said the local economy of the people in the
region depended on the lake activities like fishing, agriculture and
pastoralism going on in the upper catchment of the lake.
“The new plan of action gives
preference to priority areas like agriculture, infrastructure development and
transportation facilities to ease evacuation of produce to the markets,” SAID
Souleman Adamu, Nigerian minister of water at the project presentation.
Statistics from the commssion show
that more than 150,000 fishermen live on the lake's shores and its islands. The
current estimate of annual fish production from the lake is about 120.000 tones
and over 37 million tones of cereals exported annualy.
Yet the people living around the
lake officials say they lack access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation
because of lack of the necessary infrastructure.
“We think only the much needed
infrastructure that will bring long term sustainability can ensure the success
of the Lake Chad reviving project, “said Souleman.
Poor water management he said can exacerbate
the effects of climate change on economic growth, but if well managed, it can better neutralizing the
negative impacts.
At the opening of the COP 21
session on November 30th President Paul Biyaof Cameroon and peers of
the Lake Chad Basin Commission had earlier put forth the case of not only securing the future of
the regionalwater supply body but also the lives of the people around the area
from the threats of Boko Haram.
Like his Chadian and Nigerian
counterpart and the Cameroon President shared the stakes in Lake Chad which he
said was a living example of the devastation climate change was wrecking in
Africa.
‘’We all watch helplessly how our
precious regional water body has been dwindling over the years. But we think it
is time we take engaging actions to bring life in the Lake which is an
important resource to the people of this community,” Paul Biya said at COP21.
Statistics show that the lake’s
surface area in the past 50 years has been reduced from its initial 25,000 km2
to less than 2,500 km2 due largely to its waters drying up.
Environment experts attribute this
to increasing temperatures from global warming.
The Presidents of countries of the
Lake Chad Basin in their messages all sounded the note of warning about the absolute
necessity to reach an agreement during this conference that will address the
crises.
“We cannot afford to fail”, Paul
Biya told the full conference hall shortly after the formal opening ceremony of
the conference.
As Cameroon’s contribution to addressing the
climate issue, Paul said efforts were afoot to reduce carbon footprint by 32
per cent by 2035 while also controlling desertification and scaling up
cooperation with other Central African States within the framework of the
Central African Forests Commission and the Lake Chad Basin Commission with
regard to water resources management.
The same message was equally
reiterated by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
The plan of action which is to span a period of 10 years is
estimated to cost some 900 million euros.
90% of
this will be funded by donors and the remaining 10% by member states of the
LCBC.
The
action plan the officials announced is geared at significantly contributing
towards food security, employment and social inclusion by improving in a
sustainable way the living standards of the people of the Lake Chad Basin
Commission through provision of basic infrastructure, health care, education,
access to clean water, protection of the environment, support to productive
sector for easy access to resources and markets, conflict management, peace and
security.
The
project will be funded by the African Development Bank.
The
increasing dwindling of Lake Chad the officials said was aggravating the
environmental degradation in the region that is impacting on the social and
economic well being of the population of member countries like Nigeria,
Cameroon, Niger, and Chad.
The
effect on the degrading environment on migration is just stark with a new
phenomenon of moving not for greener pastures but just for life safety experts
say.
The lake region
leaders thus agreed securing the future of their drinking water supply will
boost harvests in this drought-stricken area, where crop failures have driven
thousands of farmers to suicide and pushing many youths to migrate to Europe.
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