What has been happening to Lake Chad in recent years and why?
Many of us probably think back to the election when we hear the word “chad.” We had to deal with hanging chads, dimpled chads, pregnant chads, and even missing chads. Unfortunately for Lake Chad, it also may be soon missing – missing form atlases. Lake Chad, in north central Africa, has suffered a stunning loss of water during the last several decades. This vanishing inland lake was first observed by the Landsat satellite in 1973, when it was still one of the largest, fresh water inland lakes in Africa. Recent Landsat images have shown that Lake Chad has shrunk to 1/20 of its dimensions of 35 years ago, when it was the size of Lake Erie! It’s fading faster than the ratings of the XFL. Geography, especially political geography, has worked against Lake Chad. In the shallow depression where the lake lies, the boundaries of four different countries, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad, come together. With the exception of Cameroon, these countries, like many African nations, have experience
