IMPACTS OF LAND USE AND CLIMATE CHANGE on WATER RESOURCES AVAILABILITY IN LAKE CHAD BASIN, SUB SAHARAN AFRICA

Lake Chad Basin is located in one of the poorest and most drought prone regions of the world. A unique and highly productive basin, Lake Chad is home to 30 million inhabitants with exceptional biodiversity. The surface area of the lake has shrunk form around 25,000 KM² in the early 1960s to less than 2,000 KM² today. The shrinking of the lake can be attributed to a number of drivers to include change in land use pattern, climate change and mismanagement of natural resources by local population. The impact of the natural and anthropogenic factors on Lake Chad Basin is substantial. Access to freshwater from both surface and groundwater resources have been hampered. Increasing pressure on groundwater resources is raising concern over long term sustainability yield of the reserves. Farmland that was once healthy has been slowly eroded by barren plains as desertification takes a heavy tool on agriculture. In response to the reduced availability of freshwater resources, communities living in the banks of Feeder Rivers have resorted to diverting rivers for irrigation purposes. With the predicted rise (2⁰C -3⁰C) in temperatures across the continent over the next century, the Lake Chad Basin will see further reduction in precipitation. Also, decrease in surface and subsurface runoff under various future climate scenarios in the Sahel Sahara region predicts severe impact on water resources availability to the local population. There is thus need to raise awareness at all levels in order to reverse current water and soil degradation.