SEATTLE — The Lake Chad Basin, forming the intersection of Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria, is one of the most vulnerable areas of the world. Since 2009 it has been under intensifying attack from Boko Haram militants, causing an exodus of 1.7 million refugees and the deaths of an estimated 13,000 more, mostly in Northern Nigeria. Across the entire Lake Chad region, an estimated 2.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes, often finding shelter in communities where resources are already scarce.
Widespread hunger and malnutrition are the devastating consequences of this trauma, with more than half a million children suffering from acute malnutrition across the region. One in three families in the Lake Chad Basin is facing extreme food insecurity, and a total of 17 million people in the region are affected by this hunger crisis.
This hunger crisis has deep roots in long term neglect by the international community, a lack of infrastructure development in rural areas, and the increasingly intense impacts of climate change that threaten agricultural production. Lake Chad itself has lost 90 percent of its water mass since 1963 due to climate-related changes, creating enormous food insecurity for a population that depends on fishing and irrigation-based agriculture.
The solution to the Lake Chad Basin hunger and poverty, according to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director José Graziano de Silva, is to invest in sustainable agriculture. However, sustaining peace is a vital component of rebuilding agriculture and other industries in the region in order to support the growing numbers of people being displaced into the region and out of the worst conflict areas. Raids by fundamentalists have created widespread theft of livestock, destruction of crops, and has forced many refugees into makeshift camps or the wilderness because they are too afraid to return home.
The FAO has begun working with farmers and displaced workers to distribute cash vouchers and stimulate agricultural production markets and has proposed rebuilding efforts including distribution of cereal seeds, animal feed, and the provision of cash transfers and veterinary care for livestock to prevent animal and crop losses.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is another organization in the region that is providing food assistance and cash transfers in areas that have functioning markets. It has spearheaded school meal programs in Chad and Cameroon, as well as a ‘Blanket Supplementary Feeding’ initiative to feed children and pregnant/nursing women in Nigeria.
The WFP is also providing safe and reliable air transport via helicopters, carrying supplies like staff, medicines, vaccines and specialized nutritious foods to isolated areas. Data collection is an important component of this work and is being carried out by WFP through mobile phone surveys and satellite imagery to better understand Lake Chad Basin hunger and poverty. Conditions are gradually improving, but more help and attention is needed from the international community to ensure lasting solutions to the Lake Chad Basin hunger and poverty.
– Saru Duckworth
Photo: Flickr