LCBC-GIZ: Workshop on the Management of the Lower Logone Floodplain
More than fifty personalities (administrative, council, and traditional authorities) from Cameroon and Chad took part in the Forum of Partners of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) inaugural workshop. The workshop was held in Bongor – Chad, from 8 to 9 September 2021, before setting up a platform for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in the Waza-Logone floodplain.
With the support of GIZ, the workshop aimed at informing and raising awareness of various stakeholders on the role and importance of LCBC in supporting the commitment stakeholders to IWRM, related activities and activities underway in the Waza-Logone floodplain.
During discussions, participants focused on the one hand on results of the preliminary study in the Waza-Logone floodplain titled “Applied Water Resources Management in the Lake Chad Basin” as part of the LCBC-GIZ Project, on the other hand, comment on IWRM-related challenges.
The meeting laid the groundwork for a platform for sustainable and accepted management of resources of the floodplain and conflict resolution between various stakeholders. Dubbed the “Lake Chad Basin Forum of Sustainable Development Partners”, it is an essential link to implement the Lake Chad Basin Water Charter. The Charter highlights the need to involve various water users in the management of water resources.
The ceremony was declared open by Mr N. Gaspard, Secretary-General of Mayo Kebbi-East Province, in the presence of Mr Alio Abdoulaye, Head of Division, Basin Observatory-LCBC and Mr Tassilo von Droste zu Huelshoff, Senior Technical Advisor, LCBC-GIZ Project. In their remarks, both men underscored the importance of sustainable and equitable management of resources in the Logone, the effective setting-up of the partner’s forum and disseminating the Water Charter to communities of the Basin.
Indeed, in recent years, the riparian population of the Lower Logone has suffered the severe consequences of climate change, marked by floods, inter and intra-seasonal droughts, shorter rainy seasons, which is a tragedy. However, this Logone floodplain is one of the essential biodiversity reserves and one of the major production basins in the Sub-region. Moreover, the riparian population enjoys services provided by this ecosystem such as agriculture, fishing, livestock, transportation, availability of firewood, sand, and water.
Furthermore, traditional and administrative authorities unanimously decried the adverse effects of climate change, degradation of resources of the floodplain, decrease of flows of the Logone River and productivity in activities such as agriculture, livestock, and fishing. This phenomenon has resulted in unsustainable practices such as the use of prohibited equipment which affects the sustainability of the fisheries resources, use of herbicides, opening of fishing channels along watercourses without leaving out regular conflicts between communities over the management of resources of this part of Lake Chad.
For this reason, regular discussions with stakeholders at the grassroots are the cornerstone on which the IWRM process will be developed. Furthermore, as part of the second IWRM principle, it is crucial, if not fundamental, for all stakeholders to cultivate, whether individually or collectively, IWRM for the well-being of humans and Nature in the sub-basin. It is also the spirit and the wish with which LCBC and GIZ are organizing this meeting. This objective was achieved!
