Chad, Cameroon to fight for lake at environment meet

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - The presidents of Chad and Cameroon will use the December Copenhagen climate change summit to try and save Lake Chad, which is rapidly shrinking largely due to changes in weather, the leaders said on Thursday.

Chad's President Idris Deby and Cameroon's President Paul Biya said climate change was responsible and the world should quickly provide the resources to save the lake, which covered 25,000 square km in 1964 but now only covers 3,000 square km.

The Lake Chad Basin Commission, which regulates water in the basin bordering between Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger, has warned that 30 million people's livelihoods depend on the lake's ecosystem and its disappearance would have be a catastrophe.

"Aware of the seriousness of the effects of climate change on the drying-out of Lake Chad, both heads of state adopted a common stand they will defend during the Copenhagen summit," a joint statement read at the end of Deby's visit to Cameroon.

The leaders would draw "attention of the international community on the necessity for the world to mobilise resources and funding earmarked for safeguarding this ecosystem threatened with extinction", the statement added.

Experts blame growing numbers of people living in the area and the construction of dams on rivers and tributaries, as well as changing weather patterns, for the lake's demise.

"The problems of the lake are numerous, severe and of global importance," said Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, executive secretary secretary of the Lake Chad Bsin Commission (LCBC).

As an immediate step, the LCBC has suggested transferring water from the nearby Oubangui river prevent the lake from drying up completely.