Saving Lake Chad: National and International responses to environmental change
The Transaqua project
The Transaqua project aims to transfer 100 billion m3 of fresh water per year from the River Zaire basin to the Sahelian region of Chad and Niger (Mirak-Weissbach 1997). The project was first proposed in the 1980s but was dismissed for being too large (Save Lake Chad 2018).
Through the Transaqua Project a 2,400km long canal was proposed from the Zaire catchment to the source of the Chari river. Figure 1 shows the canal running through the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR) to Chad where it finally reaches Lake Chad in the north of the country. The Project suggests that the water transferred to Lake Chad could be used to irrigate 12 to 17 million acres of land intensively or semi-intensively (Mirak-Weissbach 1997). In addition, 30,000 to 35,000 million kWh of hydroelectric power could be produced per year. In terms of transport, the project envisions a 6000km long Trans-African Highway from Lagos to Mombasa. According to the 1997 article, the project could be the beginnings of “a practical start of the post-colonial dream of economic integration”.
Figure 2 demonstrates how the Transaqua Project could lead to the re-expansion of Lake Chad over the coming decades. However, the Transaqua Project did not materialise back in the 1990s and some experts warn that time is running out. However, in early 2018 PowerChina (the company that built the Three Gorges Dam) and Bonifica (an Italian company) formed an alliance to help save Lake Chad (Save Lake Chad 2018). Following the International Conference on Lake Chad (ICLC) 2018, both parties committed $1.8 million grants to fund the feasibility study for the proposed digging of the canal. One major issue with the Transaqua Project is the potential that Lake Chad could completely dry up before the project can be completed due to the scale and hence decades the project will take to complete.
Inter-basin Water Transfer (IBWT) Project
As well as the Bonifica-PowerChina alliance for the Transaqua Project, the ICLC also concluded that the proposed IBWT from the Ubangi River is a necessity to save Lake Chad (Save Lake Chad 2018). The IBWT from the Congo Basin was proposed at the conference in Abuja but with protest from the DRC who claim to own the largest proportion of the waters of the Congo Basin (Misser 2018).
In 1984 a water transfer was proposed from Congo to Lake Chad in response to the worst drought to date at the time (Environews Nigeria 2018). The Congo River has an average discharge of 41,000m3 per second and is the second largest river in the World (Celani 2017). In October 2009, a 28-month long feasibility study was awarded to CIMA International, a Canadian company. The study concluded that the IBWT was "technically feasible and economically viable" (Environews Nigeria 2018). In the CIMA study, a 360MW hydroelectric dam on the Ubangi River would be used to provide 250WM of energy to pump water 128km to the LCB (Immega 2018). Figure 3 shows the location of the dam, with the DRC to the south and CAR to the north. In May 2015, Muhammad Buhari was elected as President of Nigeria and promoted a program to develop the country's infrastructure (Celani 2017). Buhari has advocated for the IBWT project and encourages Western countries to deliver on their promises of financial aid for development of infrastructure as well as focussing on cooperation between Nigeria and the BRICS.
The Solar option?
The Solar options refers to the use of solar energy to pump water to the LBC instead of a hydroelectric dam (Immega 2018). Benefits of the solar options include a 90% reduction in the cost compared to damming the Ubangi at Palambo. In terms of getting the DRC on board with the proposal, the solar option also mitigates some impacts on the DRC by not flooding 200km of the Ubangi River upstream of the proposed dam. In addition, all infrastructure would be in the CAR and Chad and there would be comparably minimal impact on the Ubangi river system. Most importantly, the solar options claims to be able to restore 3000km2 of the Lake Chad within one year of implementation.
Smaller-scale responses to environmental change
Some farmers in Chad have started harvesting rainwater through a technique called 'Zaï' (Abdi 2017). The method involves sowing crops into small pits which retains water efficiently for long times especially during drier periods. The yield of this method can be increased by adding manure to the pits. Another method used to mitigate the effects of climate change on farming is agroforestry. Trees aid crop growth by maintaining the integrity of the soil through extensive roots systems and maintaining the productivity of the soil as leaf litter falls to the ground and decomposes.
The future ..
The scale of the Transaqua project and the IBWT have really delayed their implementation. Regardless of extensive outside investment from other nations, the lack of economic development in the countries in which infrastructural development is set to take place has impeded their progress. The solar option seems to alleviate some of the issues which may have delayed the IBWT but in the meantime it seems that in the LCB, small scale techniques to cope with water shortages such as the Zaï pit system are important for local communities while larger changes are negotiated.
The Transaqua project aims to transfer 100 billion m3 of fresh water per year from the River Zaire basin to the Sahelian region of Chad and Niger (Mirak-Weissbach 1997). The project was first proposed in the 1980s but was dismissed for being too large (Save Lake Chad 2018).
Figure 1: A map of the Zaire river basin and the proposed Canal from the basin to the Chari River.
Source: GCR
Through the Transaqua Project a 2,400km long canal was proposed from the Zaire catchment to the source of the Chari river. Figure 1 shows the canal running through the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR) to Chad where it finally reaches Lake Chad in the north of the country. The Project suggests that the water transferred to Lake Chad could be used to irrigate 12 to 17 million acres of land intensively or semi-intensively (Mirak-Weissbach 1997). In addition, 30,000 to 35,000 million kWh of hydroelectric power could be produced per year. In terms of transport, the project envisions a 6000km long Trans-African Highway from Lagos to Mombasa. According to the 1997 article, the project could be the beginnings of “a practical start of the post-colonial dream of economic integration”.
Figure 2: The potential expansion of Lake Chad if the Transaqua Project were to be implemented.
Source: Save Lake Chad
Figure 2 demonstrates how the Transaqua Project could lead to the re-expansion of Lake Chad over the coming decades. However, the Transaqua Project did not materialise back in the 1990s and some experts warn that time is running out. However, in early 2018 PowerChina (the company that built the Three Gorges Dam) and Bonifica (an Italian company) formed an alliance to help save Lake Chad (Save Lake Chad 2018). Following the International Conference on Lake Chad (ICLC) 2018, both parties committed $1.8 million grants to fund the feasibility study for the proposed digging of the canal. One major issue with the Transaqua Project is the potential that Lake Chad could completely dry up before the project can be completed due to the scale and hence decades the project will take to complete.
Inter-basin Water Transfer (IBWT) Project
As well as the Bonifica-PowerChina alliance for the Transaqua Project, the ICLC also concluded that the proposed IBWT from the Ubangi River is a necessity to save Lake Chad (Save Lake Chad 2018). The IBWT from the Congo Basin was proposed at the conference in Abuja but with protest from the DRC who claim to own the largest proportion of the waters of the Congo Basin (Misser 2018).
Figure 3: The location for the proposed hydroelectric dam on the Ubangi River.
Source: Save Lake Chad
In 1984 a water transfer was proposed from Congo to Lake Chad in response to the worst drought to date at the time (Environews Nigeria 2018). The Congo River has an average discharge of 41,000m3 per second and is the second largest river in the World (Celani 2017). In October 2009, a 28-month long feasibility study was awarded to CIMA International, a Canadian company. The study concluded that the IBWT was "technically feasible and economically viable" (Environews Nigeria 2018). In the CIMA study, a 360MW hydroelectric dam on the Ubangi River would be used to provide 250WM of energy to pump water 128km to the LCB (Immega 2018). Figure 3 shows the location of the dam, with the DRC to the south and CAR to the north. In May 2015, Muhammad Buhari was elected as President of Nigeria and promoted a program to develop the country's infrastructure (Celani 2017). Buhari has advocated for the IBWT project and encourages Western countries to deliver on their promises of financial aid for development of infrastructure as well as focussing on cooperation between Nigeria and the BRICS.
The Solar option?
The Solar options refers to the use of solar energy to pump water to the LBC instead of a hydroelectric dam (Immega 2018). Benefits of the solar options include a 90% reduction in the cost compared to damming the Ubangi at Palambo. In terms of getting the DRC on board with the proposal, the solar option also mitigates some impacts on the DRC by not flooding 200km of the Ubangi River upstream of the proposed dam. In addition, all infrastructure would be in the CAR and Chad and there would be comparably minimal impact on the Ubangi river system. Most importantly, the solar options claims to be able to restore 3000km2 of the Lake Chad within one year of implementation.
Smaller-scale responses to environmental change
Some farmers in Chad have started harvesting rainwater through a technique called 'Zaï' (Abdi 2017). The method involves sowing crops into small pits which retains water efficiently for long times especially during drier periods. The yield of this method can be increased by adding manure to the pits. Another method used to mitigate the effects of climate change on farming is agroforestry. Trees aid crop growth by maintaining the integrity of the soil through extensive roots systems and maintaining the productivity of the soil as leaf litter falls to the ground and decomposes.
The future ..
The scale of the Transaqua project and the IBWT have really delayed their implementation. Regardless of extensive outside investment from other nations, the lack of economic development in the countries in which infrastructural development is set to take place has impeded their progress. The solar option seems to alleviate some of the issues which may have delayed the IBWT but in the meantime it seems that in the LCB, small scale techniques to cope with water shortages such as the Zaï pit system are important for local communities while larger changes are negotiated.
Hi Eilish, I thought this was a really interesting post having read your previous posts on the issues faced by those in the Lake Chad region. Do you think the IBWT will be enough to save Lake Chad or do you think smaller-scale adaptation to the changing climate are a more useful way forward?
ReplyDeleteI think for the IBWT to be most effective it needs to be completed as soon as possible before the lake dries up anymore! Small-scale adaptations are necessary in the mean-time I think while people gradually adapt to more a more variable climate.
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