A lake in Africa is drying up which is the lifeline to four surrounding countries: Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon. The rivers supplying it are few, and scientists say it is due to upriver damming and irrigation. Could it be due to over-population? Some believe if populations levels are maintained, then the water would not run out. According to maps it is almost gone; some due not even show the lake at all. Disease’s such as malaria and yellow fever are the common death sentences for many weakened immunities of surrounding communities. What measures are being taken?

Here is the link to Google maps with a satellite view of the lake and surround area. Notice the green area that used to be the actual size of the lake in comparison to the small blue area which is the present day lake:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=lake+chad&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=26.731396,59.238281&ie=UTF8&ll=13.437709,13.787842&spn=2.046159,3.702393&t=h&z=8&iwloc=addr&om=1

Here is a pdf with all that is needed to know about the lake from worldlakes.org. It is written by scientist who study the lake and are able to provide detailed descriptions of the land features in the area and other bits of information that further shows how this is an area of the world that really needs help.

http://www.worldlakes.org/uploads/06_Lake_Chad_27February2006.pdf