The Lake Chad Development and Climate Resilience Action Plan (2015) intends to contribute significantly to food security, employment, and the social inclusion of the youth by improving, in a sustainable way, the living conditions of populations settled on the Lake’s banks and islands as well as the resilience of a system characterized by a strong demographic growth, high hydrological variability, and climate uncertainty. To achieve it, the Action Plan proposes actions in seven Priority Themes summarized as follows: 1) Supporting producers and their value chains to increase food production and employment and to thereby allow the lake area to increase its contribution to food security and regional stability; 2) Securing access to natural resources, and managing conflicts, and thereby help the socio-ecosystem of the lake to strengthen resilience and to increase its contribution to regional development; 3) Improving living conditions through public investments; progress in this area will be necessary for developing the potential of the Lake and strengthening the resilience of riparian societies; 4) Facilitating transport and trade to increase the value of its agricultural production; better access is also needed for improving the living conditions of its inhabitants; 5) Preserving the environmental capital of the lake itself; 6) Better managing the water resources of the basin given the increase in water demand and to have a regional response to the risks of pollution (agricultural, urban, industrial and oil sector) that threaten Lake Chad; and 7) Disseminating information, improving knowledge, facilitate participatory processes involving the stakeholders, and monitoring of the environment to increase understanding and knowledge about the ecological and socioeconomic functioning of the Lake and basin.
2015-11-13