Introduction: A unique cultural landscape

In the heart of the Sahelian belt, on the borders of Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, lies the Lake Chad Cultural Landscape, one of the largest inhabited lacustrine landscapes on our planet. This immense freshwater expanse in the middle of a desert is shared by Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria and currently covers 17,000 km2. This area offers a great diversity of wetland ecosystems that makes it a great source of life for many animal species in this semi-desert environment. On the shores of the lake, the desert sands and the water meet in a complex network of meanders, sometimes turned into areas for cultivation and breeding by the inhabitants. Lake Chad is unique in that it is covered by hundreds of islands, many of which are inhabited by several communities that rely on its resources and perpetuate sober lifestyles that ensure their resilience. This cohabitation between Man and nature, which dates back to the Palaeolithic era, gives a true dimension of cultural landscape to this vast lake.

Given the richness it provides in a harsh climatic context, Lake Chad has been an unavoidable crossing point for thousands of years, where both economic routes and political currents linking sub-Saharan Africa to the countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean converge. Owing to these continuous trans-Saharan exchanges, Lake Chad is also a place where nomads and sedentary people have been living together in a spirit of balance and reciprocity, promoting complementary vocations between peoples. This oasis provides food to its entire basin through adapted forms of agriculture, fishing and farming. Even today, the products of Lake Chad reach the Atlantic coast, Cameroon and Nigeria in particular. In May 2017, UNESCO and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) signed a partnership agreementFootnote 1 to implement the project entitled ‘BIOsphère et Patrimoines du Lac Tchad’ (BIOPALT), in order to contribute, among other things, to the inscription of the Lake Chad Cultural Landscape on the World Heritage List, thus offering the countries a unique opportunity for cooperation and sub-regional integration to promote peace, safeguard and valorize natural and cultural resources, and improve the resilience of local communities. The BIOPALT project is coordinated by UNESCO’s Natural Sciences Sector within the framework of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme. It is a component of the Programme for the Rehabilitation and Strengthening of the Resilience of Ecological Systems in the Lake Chad Basin (PRESIBALT) of the LCBC.

The Lake Chad Cultural Landscape: The first quadripartite transnational cultural landscape to be inscribed on the World Heritage List

During the Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the LCBC member countries held on November 1, 2010 in Ndjamena, Chad, an appeal was made to UNESCO for the inscription of Lake Chad on the World Heritage List, in order to make it a protected area and develop it, with the priority of preserving its biodiversity and ecosystems. In 2013, in close collaboration with the LCBC, UNESCO conducted a feasibility study on the nomination of Lake Chad as a World Heritage Site and Transboundary Biosphere Reserve. This study concluded that Lake Chad has the potential to achieve these international recognitions. Through the BIOPALT project, funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the four riparian countries (Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Chad) initiated the process of preparing the nomination file for the inscription of Lake Chad on the World Heritage List, during a regional workshop held in N’Djamena in April 2018.

All the consultation, elaboration and validation phases of the management plan were carried out and resulted in 2018 in the harmonization of the tentative lists of the four countries by including the Lake Chad Cultural Landscape on the basis of its cultural and natural values. The proposed transnational site is home to approximately two million people who rely directly on it for their livelihood. This area has a great diversity of wetland ecosystems that make it a great source of life for many animal and plant species. The site bears unique testimony to the Sao civilization (criterion iii), demonstrates a considerable exchange of influences over the centuries (criterion ii), represents an area of natural beauty and aesthetic importance (criterion vii), and exhibits a high diversity of ecosystems unusually found in arid regions (criterion ix). In addition, archaeological excavations undertaken around the lake have also proven that human presence there dates back to the Palaeolithic era. Today, several hundred islands in the lake are still inhabited by local communities including the Kotoko, Hausa and Barma, descendants of the ancient peoples of the region. These communities live off the lake’s resources and perpetuate ancestral traditions, making the lake a living cultural landscape (Figure 1).

Figure 1.
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Boundaries of the nominated property. Source: Google Earth satellite images. (The names and boundaries shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations).

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From a natural perspective, the environment of Lake Chad presents an exceptional mosaic of plant formations interspersed with oases and wetlands of international importance. Such a variety of ecosystems is rare in arid regions. These areas are home to a great diversity of wildlife. Among the remarkable species are the hippopotamus, crocodile, monitor lizards, terrestrial and aquatic turtles and otters. The ichthyofauna is also rich and varied with about 100 species of fish inventoried (Magomna, Lévêque, 2015). In addition, Lake Chad is an important ecological niche for millions of migratory birds. More than 350 species of birds have been documented. Lake Chad includes four wetlands of international importance (Ramsar sites), one in each country (Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria). Despite anthropogenic pressures on its natural resources, the ecosystems of Lake Chad are globally well conserved with associated ecosystem services and cultural values. The relatively small human population and the absence of polluting industries in the vicinity of the lake contribute to the preservation of this remarkable biodiversity. As part of the protection and management of this area, each of the four riparian countries has taken legal measures to preserve the site through its inscription on the national heritage list by decree (Niger), or order (Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria). To support the nomination process, several activities were then organized within the framework of the BIOPALT project. For example, in collaboration with the UNESCO office in Yaoundé, the International Centre on Earthen Architecture (CRAterre) strengthened the capacities of national experts in the preparation of a nomination dossier and the identification of the cultural and natural values of the proposed site.

Furthermore, the multidisciplinary, regional, inclusive and participatory approach promoted by the BIOPALT project has proven to be relevant to the sustainability of the achievements. Indeed, a participatory and inclusive approach always builds a relationship of trust with the stakeholders and especially with the local communities who appreciate the consideration of their traditions and know-how. The nomination was submitted to the World Heritage Centre in January 2020. The next step will be the organization of the evaluation mission by the Advisory Bodies (IUCN and ICOMOS). Unfortunately, the latter has been postponed for security reasons (Figures 2 and 3).

Figure 2 and Figure 3.
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Community consultation session in June 2018 in Cameroon. © Sébastien Moriset.

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An innovative protection and management system that straddles the line between modern and traditional

The will of four States to have Lake Chad recognized as a remarkable element demonstrates the resolution of Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger to do everything possible to safeguard this property that has been shared for thousands of years by all the peoples of the basin. The desire to monitor and protect Lake Chad is not new and the main initiative implemented for better management of this area is the creation, as early as 1964, of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC). This transnational entity was initially founded by the four nominating countries and was later joined by the Central African Republic in 1996 and Libya in 2008. The Commission’s mandate is to ‘manage Lake Chad and other shared water resources in its basin in a sustainable and equitable manner, preserve the ecosystems of the conventional Lake Chad Basin, and promote regional integration, peace and security throughout the basin.’ Namely, it attempts to harmonize the management procedures of the basin, and of the lake in particular.

Moreover, Lake Chad has overcome numerous political crises and climatic hazards (exceptional drops in water levels), owing to traditional management systems that are still in place, allowing for the regulation of inter-community relations – trade or fishing for example. The traditional forms of social management and natural resource management still exist, with many intangible practices ensuring respect for natural resources. The local authorities established by the central administration of the four Lake Chad countries rely on these traditional management mechanisms without conflicting with them. The people who manage this immense cultural landscape are the administrations (mayors, sub-prefects, prefects, governors) who work in close collaboration with the traditional authorities (Chiefs, Imams, Sultans) and the traditional managers of the lake, which include, among others, professional groups such as farmers, fishermen, breeders, etc., who have one person in charge per group. Each country has its own specificities, but this principle of co-management between conventional administrative authorities and traditional authorities is a permanent feature throughout the lake. There is no conflict of management between both; the contact is permanent.

There are also many local traditional celebrations and ceremonies, some of which take place across borders but are little known and little publicized outside of the lake dwellers who host them. Overall, there are many opportunities to spread and promote local and cross-border social and cultural activities among communities in the Lake Chad Cultural Landscape that have shared traditions and a long history of interaction and exchange.

All in all and in an innovative way, the protection of the cultural and natural values of Lake Chad is guaranteed by the population and its traditional social structures. To this is added a set of administrative services from the four States. These national measures are reinforced at the regional level by the LCBC. In parallel to the preparation of this nomination, a management plan was developed by two experts mandated by the BIOPALT project. Their participatory work has allowed the formulation of an action plan for 2020–2025.

Cross-Border cooperation as a solution to the challenges of the Lake Chad Cultural Landscape

Lake Chad is crucial to the history of humanity. The 7 million year old Toumaï skull, the ancestor of humanity, was discovered in the Lake Chad Basin, on the border between Chad and Niger. Unfortunately, the lake area is among the areas with the lowest development index on the planet.

The most significant changes in the environmental and socio-economic profile of the Lake Chad Basin all appear to be related to the impacts of climate change, the deteriorating security situation in the region and to development activities. In order to ensure that the proposed site is inscribed on the World Heritage List, it is necessary to analyse all of these issues in a holistic way, to understand how they have become risk multipliers in recent decades, to anticipate how they will evolve in the future, and to strengthen transnational cooperation.

The Islamic fundamentalist movement Boko Haram, which emerged in Nigeria in the early 2000s, and its terrorist activities have caused numerous casualties and acts of violence against local populations, resulting in significant population displacement. These migrations and the demographic pressure they cause are also believed to result in increased conflict and a lack of redistribution of resources. The activities of the Islamist movement have also had economic repercussions, notably with the evacuation of many islands in the lake, depriving fishermen of their means of subsistence. The demographic pressure generates migrations of population, which thus affects the functioning of the ecosystem of the lake.

Also, this region has long been a crossroads in trans-Saharan economic and political exchanges. Fortunately, economic development activities have had little impact on the ecosystem. Current pollution is limited to the use of motorized pumps for agriculture and motorboats that cause air and water pollution from oil and hydrocarbon spills. There are also industrial facilities in the lake basin but far from the shoreline, such as the oil operations in Diffa, Niger. On the other hand, if industry were to develop on the shores of the lake, because of the discovery of oil, for example, in Chad, the risks of pollution would be much higher than today. This region is already the scene of one of the most complex conflicts on the continent, and oil development within the boundaries of the nominated site would jeopardize its inscription on the World Heritage List. Indeed, the World Heritage Committee has consistently stated that mining, oil and gas exploration or exploitation are incompatible with World Heritage status. While the World Heritage Convention promotes the exploitation of the potential of World Heritage properties and heritage in general, to contribute to sustainable development and thereby increase the effectiveness and relevance of the Convention, it does so while respecting its primary purpose and mandate of protecting the Outstanding Universal Value of World Heritage properties.Footnote 2

On top of these scourges, the manifestation of climate change with its corollary of increasing temperatures and oscillating rainfall can be added. The numerous droughts and floods of the 1970s have already had a long impact on this ecosystem. Climate forecasts for Lake Chad, although contingent, predict significant temperature increases. The German International Development Cooperation Agency predicts a loss of water resources of 4–10% by the end of the century, and the evaporation will potentially lead to a loss of water that could cause a change in the surface area of the lake. These ecosystem changes in the basin will undoubtedly have impacts on livestock, fisheries, agriculture and possibly water quality.

As well, the current COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the pressures. The socio-economic fallout from the measures taken by governments to contain the spread of the virus is having a significant impact on local populations. Initially, the closure of borders has had an impact on the economy of border communities with a significant drop in income. In addition, measures such as the closure of markets, lockdowns and curfews have exacerbated the already existing food crisis. The pandemic is also having an impact on the security situation, as extremist groups are taking advantage of the current fear and chaos, and cross-border authorities, who are on the front lines of managing both cross-border trade and population migration, are not always adequately equipped to respond to this health crisis.

Despite its unique potential, there is no doubt that the Lake Chad Cultural Landscape is the scene of a profound security, ecological, economic and humanitarian crisis. The possibilities for responding to these issues are equally diverse and varied. The Lake Chad Basin Commission has already undertaken several actions. For example, in order to address the declining viability of biological resources in the lake, the LCBC and its partners have launched a Sustainable Development Program to counter the proliferation of invasive aquatic species and reduce pollution for better conservation and management of fisheries resources. The fight against youth unemployment, the revitalization of economic activities, the strengthening of capacities to adapt to climate changes and the resilience of populations through increased income are all important measures to be implemented and which would be cross-cutting responses to the various problems of the region. Consequently, the BIOPALT project contributes to poverty reduction (SDG 1) and the restoration of degraded ecosystems (SDG 15) through the implementation of income-generating activities (IGAs) based on the green economy for fragile communities. For example, in the Lake Chad Basin, 30,000 people (including 13,000 women) have benefited directly and indirectly from several IGAs that also help mitigate the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis: production and sale of oil and soap from Balanites, rehabilitation and fish stocking of a pond, valorization of the Kouri cattle breed and improvement of income and food security.

The BIOPALT project also promotes the culture of peace (SDG 16) through training and capacity-building activities targeting nearly 5,000 people and dealing with the peaceful management of natural resources (PCCP approach: from Potential Conflict to Potential Cooperation), the Man and the Biosphere Program, and the World Heritage Convention.

The BIOPALT project is also working to improve knowledge of the biodiversity, cultural heritage and hydrology of Lake Chad through dozens of scientific studies, and to develop strategies and policies to consolidate regional and national capacities and strengthen the resilience of nearly 200,000 people vulnerable to the effects of climate change (SDG 13).

This dynamic, appreciated by the states, has had a federating effect and has reinforced the transnational conception of Lake Chad. The involvement of various civil society actors has also helped to perpetuate this vision and ensure the sustainability of the achievements. If the first phase of the BIOPALT project was a success, several actions can still be carried out. The implementation of these actions should be done in the same spirit, i.e., in an inclusive, participatory and transnational manner. A second phase of the BIOPALT project would then be appropriate and could focus on strengthening income-generating activities, ecological restoration and the promotion of intercultural dialogue to resolve various conflicts.

Conclusion and prospects

The inscription of the Lake Chad Cultural Landscape on the World Heritage List is a ray of hope.

In view of the negative impacts that oil exploitation in the Lake Chad area could generate, an alternative solution must be found. This solution should consist of sensitizing the Government of Chad to cancel the oil concessions in the lake area and replace them with concessions in non-transnational areas that are less rich in cultural and natural heritage. For the inscription of the Lake Chad Cultural Landscape on the World Heritage List will have the value of international recognition of the richness of its cultural and biological diversity, which will provide a sense of pride to countries and contribute to restoring the dignity of local communities. By strengthening transnational mechanisms for safeguarding and sustainable management for future generations, this status would further bind the destinies of these nations and peoples and strengthen sub-regional cooperation and integration for the promotion of peace. In addition, the site will receive more attention from the international community and could more easily and quickly obtain funding for both site conservation and community development projects. World Heritage designation is also likely to stimulate tourism activities with positive consequences for the local economy.