The Presidency has said President Muhammadu Buhari has approved Nigeria’s hosting of an international conference on saving the Lake Chad. The conference is to revitalise the basin’s ecosystem for sustainable livelihood, security and development.
The three-day conference to be held in Abuja will consist of two days of technical sessions and one day of high level meetings between February 26-28, 2018.
Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement, noted that this is the first time an international conference on Lake Chad is being organised by the six-member countries of the region.
The high level meeting is expected to have in attendance all of the presidents and heads of government of the member-states, namely Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Libya The key parters coming together in hosting the conference are Nigeria, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and relevant donors, including, the African Development Bank, (AfDB), the World Bank and the governments of Germany, China, Canada and the European Union (EU).
The main objective of the conference is to create global awareness on the socio-economic and environmental challenges arising from the shrinkage of the Lake Chad, threat to livelihoods, including insecurity with a view to developing a comprehensive programme for action to save the lake from extinction. The statement read: “Specifically, the conference is expected to discuss and develop consensus on the different options to restore Lake Chad, including the Inter-Basin Water Transfer project from the Ubangi River in Central Africa to the Lake Chad.
“Experts, researchers and resource persons are xpected to exchange knowledge and share information on water resources development and management in a crisis environment and to garner political and financial support for the restoration option identified for the restoration of the lake.”
|Sun