Main informations
BP 727
| Name | Position | |
|---|---|---|
|
Tam Lambert
|
tam@intnet.td
|
Assistant Executive Secretary
|
Basic data
Varies from 100 mm/year in the North to 1,500 mm/ year in the Southern parts.
Evaporation: It exceeds 2,000 mm/ year at the centre of the basin.
A few large scale irrigation schemes (polders) developed on parts of the lakeshore have proven totally unsuited to the hydrological, climatic and cultural conditions of the region.
Fishing, pastoral sheep, cattle and camel rearing provide the only support to livelihoods of the local community in the region in addition to agriculture.
Website
Geographical scope
The conventional basin of Lake Chad incorporates the upper basins of LogoneChari and Komadougou-Yobe regimes, and encompasses the entire hydrographic network supplying water to Lake Chad, Yaeres, and the phreatic water-table around the lake.
| Countries | Area |
|---|---|
|
Algeria
|
90000km²
|
|
Cameroon
|
46800km²
|
|
Central African
|
218000km²
|
|
Chad
|
1079200km²
|
|
Libia
|
4600km²
|
|
Niger
|
674200km²
|
|
Nigeria
|
180200km²
|
|
Sudan
|
82800km²
|
Function/mandat
The LCBC’s functions are advisory and coordination in nature and can be summarized as follows: preparing general regulations which shall permit the full application of the principles set forth in the present convention and its annexed statute, and to ensure their full application; collecting, evaluating, and disseminating information on projects prepared by the member states and recommending plans for common projects and joint research programs within the basin; keeping close contact between the contracting parties with a view to ensuring the most efficient utilization of the waters of the basin; following up on the progress of the execution of surveys and works and keeping the member states informed; drawing up common rules regarding navigation and transport; examining complaints and promoting the settlement of disputes and the resolution of conflicts; promoting regional cooperation and coordination of regional programs; planning, mobilizing and following up national projects with regional implications.
Organisation
The topmost organ of LCBC is the Meeting of Heads of State which is the main policy setting unit. It has a permanent bureau with an Executive Secretary. Subordinate to the Executive Secretary are an Assistant Executive Secretary, a Financial Controller and four departments of Administration and Finance; Planning and Project Execution;Documentation, Information, Remote Sensing and Advanced Technologies and Water Resources
Since 1994, the Lake Chad Basin Commission (Commission du Bassin du Lac Tchad, CBLT) has consisted of ten members, two members from each member state (Commissioners), and it meets at least once a year. Its policy-setting unit is the Meeting of the Heads of State. The Commission has a permanent bureau headed by an Executive Secretary. With the adoption of the Strategic Action Program (SAP), a Steering Committee has been established for implementation with two directors (one for the technical management of large-scale water resources projects and another for environmental policy management issues). LCBC has further introduced a Basin Committee for Strategic Planning to coordinate activities with the nation states and across the key ministries such as environment, agriculture, and finance. The personnel of the LCBC are recruited from among the ministries and administration of the member states; the Executive Secretary is always from Nigeria. It is stipulated that personnel from any member state does not exceed one-third.
An inter-basin water transfer scheme is planned whereby Lake Chad could be supplied with water from the Congo basin via a pipeline and a navigation channel. Also planned is the construction of a dam at Palambo (CAR) for electricity generation and for expansion of irrigated agricultural land. The Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) has already released a no-objection note. Feasibility studies will be undertaken with funds from the member states and international donors, which will also assess the social, economic, and ecological impacts. Since the adoption of the Strategic Action Plan (1998), GEF has supported a program called Reversal of Land and Water Degradation Trends in the Lake Chad Basin Ecosystem to set up coordinated, integrated, and sustainable management of the international waters and natural resources of the Lake Chad basin and to reverse the degradation trend of soils and water resources. Mega-Chad project for controlling land degradation, inter alia Promotion of the Use of Renewable Energy Resources and Conservation of the Flora Species in the Dry Lands of Mega Chad of the West African Sub-region is supported by UNEP since 2001.
The Convention and Statutes require that member states refrain from adopting any measures likely to exert a marked influence either upon the extent of water losses, sanitary conditions of the water resources, biological characteristics of the fauna and flora of the Basin or the lake without referring to the Commission beforehand. In particular, the member states agree not to undertake in that part of the Basin falling within their jurisdiction any work in connection with the development of water resources or the soil likely to have a marked influence upon the system of the water courses and levels of the Basin without adequate notice and prior consultation with the Commission.
The Commission shall draw up its own rules of procedure, and decisions of the LCBC shall be adopted unanimously. LCBC requires that any dispute concerning the interpretation of the implementation of the present Convention, which has not been determined by the Commission, shall be submitted to the Commission of Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration of the Organization of African Unity for the purpose of decision.
The personnel of the LCBC are recruited from among the ministries and administration of the member states and are paid out of the LCBC budget. It is stipulated that personnel from any member state does not exceed one-third. The costs of the Commission are shared among the member states according to a defined formula. At present, Nigeria contributes 52%, Cameroon 26%, Chad 11%, Niger 7%, and Central African Republic 4% towards the annual budget.
Although no specific provisions are in place, stakeholder participation is enhanced by the activities of user groups whose functions range from advisory to planning and management and from coordination to dispute settlement to procurement of credits and recovery of water charges.
A number of bilateral commissions have been established, whose relation to the LCBC has yet to be clarified. During the 1970s and 1980s the Lake Chad Basin Commission was also involved in settling border disputes between Nigeria and Chad. On the advice of the Heads of State, separate commissions have been established by the LCBC for dealing with these issues.
Legal basis
| Date | Treaty name | Signatories | Basin |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1964-05-01
|
Convention and Statutes relating to the development of LCBC
|
Cameroun
Chad
Niger
Nigeria
|
lake Tchad basin
|
|
1973-10-01
|
Agreement creating a Fund for the Development of LCBC
|
Cameroun
Chad
Niger
Nigeria
|
lake Tchad basin
|
Challenges
Decreasing rainfall, drought and desertification, environmental degradation, increasing water demand, high poverty levels, institutional capacity building, funding problems and the need to strengthen cooperation.