Introduction

“First of all, we were carried away by the name of Islam, we were told to go and do jihad after that, we came to discover that it was a deceitful way of introducing us into another part of the world. Poverty, lack of money is what induces us to join Boko Haram.” (Botha and Abdile, 2019)

In the animist folklore of the herding peoples of the Lake Chad region, there is a tale of a needy man who is told by the wise to go to the water and wait, that the lake would always provide to those who are patient. (Braukämper, 1997) The Lake Chad Basin is home to a diverse population of 4.9 million people of varying ethnicities and religions. Post-colonial rule, the region has suffered from chronic instability and conflict, with poverty and lack of resources being major drivers of unrest. This paper delves into the potential of water, a critical natural resource, to catalyze regional stability and redemption. Through an exploration of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, this analysis emphasizes the capacity of natural resources to transcend traditional boundaries and unite stakeholders in efforts to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptive events.

History

Geologic

The Lake Chad Basin is a unique endorheic basin that relies heavily on rain-dependent rivers and precipitation for water inputs. The basin’s hydrological stages are highly variable and range in size from 1,700 to 25,000 km2 . The recent changes in weather conditions since the 1970s have resulted in decreased rainfall, impacting the basin’s moisture convention. This poses a challenge to the Lake Chad Basin Commission’s (LCBC) mission to promote sustainable water management in the region. The LCBC’s efforts to address these challenges include the development and implementation of policies and strategies to improve water resource management, promote water conservation, and enhance climate change adaptation. The basin also features ancient sand dune archipelagos extending from its bodies of water, covering an additional 4000-6000 km2 . It is crucial for the LCBC to understand the hydrological stages of the basin to effectively manage its resources, ensure the provision of water for agriculture, energy, and human consumption, and promote regional peace and security. (Myrbo et al., 2012) (LCBC – Lake Chad Basin Commission, 2023)

National Stakeholders

In May 1964, Cameroon, Niger, Chad, and Nigeria, established a commission to manage the Lake Chad watershed that has significant impacts on millions of people, commerce, and the region’s biodiversity. The commission was formed in response to the growing need to address the challenges associated with the basin’s hydrology, specifically to promote peace and security around a necessary human resource. The Central African Republic joined the commission in 1996, and Libya followed suit in 2008, given their active participation in the basin’s hydrological formation. Additionally, observer states Egypt, The Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo also participate in the commission’s mission, which includes providing guidance for conservation, regional integration, peace, security, and development of the Lake Chad Region. (LCBC – Lake Chad Basin Commission, 2023)

Demographics

Pre-Colonization

The Lake Chad Basin region is inhabited by diverse ethnic groups with distinct cultures and economic practices who have co-existed in these areas. The people of the region rely heavily on water resources for their livelihoods, engaging in fishing, agriculture, and pastoralism. The Kanuri and Mundang, for instance, depend on fishing in Lake Chad, utilizing advanced indigenous fishing techniques, traps, and nets. The Fulani are primarily pastoralists and move their herds across the region in search of water sources. The Hausa, Tupuri, and Gizinga are well-known for their agricultural activities, using irrigation techniques to grow crops that are well-suited for the region’s variable climate, water, and soil conditions. (Keese, 2016)

In addition to their economic practices, the people of the Lake Chad Basin region also use water resources for transportation and trade between groups. Pre-colonist era, the region was home to multiple political structures, ranging from decentralized ethnic tribes to the more complex ruling structures of the Hausa. Religious diversity was also evident in the area, with African indigenous beliefs, Christianity, and Islam all represented prior to colonization. Islam, introduced by Arab traders in the 11th century, was favored among the Kanuri and pastoralist groups, while Christianity was more prevalent among the agricultural Hausa, who converted in larger numbers after European arrival. (Keese, 2016) (Thurston, et al., 2016)

Post Colonization to Present

During the age of European colonization in Africa, the Lake Chad Basin region was largely under French control, with some areas later falling under British rule in Northern Nigeria. From the late 19th century to the 1960s, the French implemented forced labor and conscription of the local population to construct economic infrastructure, resulting in unnecessary deaths and little compensation after the loss of their cultural, political, and economic systems. The French also implemented indirect rule, replacing traditional cultural and historical structures with centralized administrative power, increasing economic stratification and social tensions, and disrupting peaceful trade and cultural harmony for colonists’ economic gain. (Magrin, 2009)

By 1961 all the Lake Chad Basin nations would become free from colonist rule, but like most former colonies, unstable democracies, and corrupt ruling parties have defined most of the last 60 years. Recently Islamic fundamentalist terrorist states attempting to grab power among the fractured cultures left over by the French have gained and lost footholds all over the region. (Keese, 2016) The rise of Islamic fundamentalist group Boko Haram kept the French military peacekeeping for nearly a decade helping local forces put down terrorist activities only to leave in 2022 (Al Jazeera, 2022), with the same problems still in place and a security power vacuum that is currently being filled by private militias including Russia’s Wagner Group. (Obiora Ikoku, 2023) (Thurston, et al., 2016)

Lake Chad Basin Commission

LCBC is part of an ever-growing group of governmental collectives based on organizing stakeholders around a common water resource who can centralize processes that analyze, mitigate/prepare, respond, and recover from disruptive events in both a vertical and horizontal framework. (Coppola, 2015) Vertical and horizontal frameworks are two approaches used in solving the challenges facing LCBC. The vertical framework focuses on strengthening the capacity of the LCBC and its member countries to manage the Lake Chad Basin’s resources effectively. This approach involves developing policies and institutional frameworks, improving technical skills, and increasing financial resources. On the other hand, the horizontal framework involves improving regional cooperation among LCBC member countries through the promotion of joint initiatives and the sharing of experiences and resources. By collaborating on common issues, such as water management and regional security, the member countries can address challenges more effectively. (LCBC – Lake Chad Basin Commission, 2023) (Coppola, 2015)

This looks much like the United States National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF) whose vertical frame speaks to the hierarchy of authority and responsibility in disaster recovery efforts, federal, state, and local, while the horizontal frame refers to the collaboration and coordination among various sectors, organizations, and stakeholders in disaster recovery, which includes non-profit organizations, private businesses, and community groups. The LCBC and NDRF use two frameworks to provide a comprehensive approach to effective coordination and collaboration among all stakeholders. (FEMA, 2016)

Uniquely the LCBC’s cultural components, part of the horizontal framework, are important to security in the region because it recognizes the diverse cultural practices, norms, and beliefs of the people living in and around this important water source, which is leveraged to address security and climate challenges. By engaging with local communities, understanding their culture, and connecting it through the watershed, the LCBC can develop effective strategies that are more likely to be accepted and adopted by the people, and therefore more successful in addressing threats. This approach can also help to build trust between the government and the communities, which is important for information sharing and cooperation in addressing security challenges. (LCBC – Lake Chad Basin Commission, 2023) (Coppola, 2015)

LCBC Case Study: Lake Chad Basin Regional Stabilization Facility (RSF)

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched a Regional Stabilization Facility (RSF) for Lake Chad in 2019; a multimillion-dollar project aimed at scaling up stabilization interventions in the Lake Chad Basin. RSF serves as a rapid response mechanism to help the local authorities curtail the ability of the Islamist Boko Haram terrorists by restoring and extending effective civilian security, improving the delivery of basic services, and building livelihoods in the eight affected regions of the four riparian countries. The facility was presented by UNDP under the sponsorship of the LCBC with the support of the African Union. (UNDP Launches Regional Stabilization Facility for Lake Chad | United Nations Development Programme, 2019) It has been a groundbreaking initiative with a budget of over $100 million just for the initial phase across the four countries. The governments of Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom have lent their full support to the implementation of RSF and have provided funding. (United Nations Development Program, 2023)

In the first two years, the RSF funding and work have significantly impacted the Lake Chad Basin, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of its success, UNDP extended the initial project funding for two more years in 2023 and funded a second facility. As of 2023, the project has served 46 localities, allowing over 400,000 displaced individuals to return home, and enabling 30,000 individuals to access health care. The Facility has built or rehabilitated 452 social service structures, including WASH facilities, schools, health clinics, agricultural canals, and bought ambulances. Additionally, 30% of these structures have been equipped with solar power. More than 51,000 individuals (42% women) have benefited from training, productive assets, fishing tools, and start-up business grants. In Chad alone, the RSF has provided trade and job opportunities for 10,000 people. Furthermore, 14,000 people (23% women) have generated income from cash-for-work programs throughout the region. At the newly funded Liptako-Gourma Facility (LGF), the RSF has installed 170 streetlights, purchased 64 National Guard vehicles, installed five wells, and constructed a school and community center. The RSF has also funded 15 active intervention locations in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. None of this includes other LCBC programs to aid former Boko Haram fighters to integrate back into their communities, climate change management, or continuous ecological and humanitarian monitoring of the entire region. (United Nations Development Program, Regional Stabilization Facility, 2023)

In January of 2023, LCBC in coordination with UNDP announced that the member states along with institutional donors have raised an additional $500 million that will continue to fund targeted projects inside the basin region as well as Boko Haram-affected neighboring areas. Since 2019, the RSF under LBCC has improved the lives of the 4.9 million people living in the Lake Chad basin. In the recent January high-level meeting among the over 100 stakeholders in the UNDP/LCBC project it was announced, “The improved security situation has created a climate for the re-establishment of state infrastructure, the provision of essential social services, and the revitalization of economies in the area.” but talks of success were tempered with requests for additional funding for the project, which is working at turning the public tide against Boko Haram. (Lake Chad Basin Commission, 2023)

Analysis

When comparing the LCBC investments with its member states’ military expenditures against Boko Haram, it becomes evident that the RSF has been successful in promoting security and stability in the region. Between 2014 and 2018, Nigeria spent more than $3 billion on arms procurement and military fortification against Boko Haram (Ike et al., 2022). Despite committing more than $588 million to the region’s security purposes, the USA’s efforts to combat Boko Haram have yielded limited success (Mvemba Phezo Dizolele & Strouboulis, 2022). The French spent 9 years deployed as a policing force and failed. (Al Jazeera, 2022) Although the LCBC’s member states have experienced political turbulence with contested elections and coup attempts in recent years (Woods, 2023), LCBC has remained focused on its primary goal of preserving and safeguarding the watershed, as well as the human and natural ecology, against both man-made disruptive acts of terrorism and climate change.

The LCBC joins the African Network of Basin Organizations (ANBO) and its 40-member organizations as well as the International Network of Basin Organizations (INBO) all with mission statements that reach transnationally across water boundaries to use this important human need as the source of social, political, economic, and environmental cooperation. (RIOB, 2023) The RSF case study reveals how necessary resource-based rights, treaties, and governmental organizations can act as the emergency backstop on social contract infrastructure in places where national and international governmental agencies fail. With global support during times of relative peace and security, watershed protective groups enshrine cross-cultural equity and social functioning around a common need that will continue to bring back stakeholders to the table.

In considering strategies to address the ongoing conflict and instability in the Lake Chad Basin region and beyond, the global community faces a choice between continuing to pursue military force and direct attack or heeding the traditional ecological knowledge of the basin’s people. The latter approach emphasizes the resilience of the natural environment and the importance of patient, sustained effort. This is exemplified in the animist folklore of the needy man who waited patiently as told. In that story, the dawn’s light eventually revealed a herd of Zebu cattle grazing in the reeds. He used these few cattle with care and work to improve his status and livelihood. (Braukämper, 1997) Similarly, the Lake Chad Basin Commission operates with patience and persistence, working to provide essential resources and support to those in need. Through this approach, the LCBC serves as a model for global organizations seeking to effect positive change in conflict-torn regions. We should consider how we can act like Lake Chad itself, quietly leaving the building blocks of prosperity on its shores, hidden in its reeds, and left behind in sustainable generosity.

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