LAKE CHAD- A DYING LAKE!

Experts converged on Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, for a meeting to find ways of saving Lake Chad from becoming dead dry. The two-day meeting (February 26-27, 2018) was organized by the government of Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin Commission. The lake’s surface has reduced by 90% over the past 40 years!

The Lake Chad Basin Commission is made up of four countries. The four countries are Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. These four countries have their borders meeting with the lake. This should tell you that the four countries have direct and close social- economic ties because of the lake.  By virtue of the fact that they share this common resource there is bound to be cultural intercourse.

Given the interconnectedness of man and nature, and within nature (i.e. ecosystem) in the Lake Chad area, the 90% reduction in the surface area of Lake Chad should tell you the monumental damage and disruption that has come upon Lake Chad and its environ, and beyond.

Man’s proclivity to destroy whatever they lay their hands on has caught up with Lake Chad!

DIVINE MANDATE

When God designed and crafted the Garden of Eden for man, rivers were an integral part of the garden. Genesis 2: 10-14: “10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. 11 The name of first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. 14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward east of Assyria. The fourth river is river Euphrates”.    

In placing Adam and Eve in the garden God made them responsible for the upkeep of the garden. God gave an instruction regarding the upkeep of the garden. The bible in Genesis 2:15 says:

• King James Version- “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it”.
• English Standard Version- “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to dress it and keep it”.
• Holman Christian Standard Bible- Free Version- “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and watch over it”.

The key words here are dress and keep. In the Holman Christian Standard Bible the words dress and keep were replaced with the terms “work” and “watch over”.

STRONG’S CONCORDANCE

• The transliterated Hebrew word for the word dress is âbad (5647), pronounced aw-bad’.

The root meaning of the word is to work (in any sense). As a verb it has a range of meaning; cultivate, work, to serve, enslave.

• The transliterated Hebrew word for the second key word keep, is shâmar (8104), pronounced shaw-mar’.

The root meaning of the word is to hedge about (as with thorns), that is to guard.

Shâmar, in a broad sense, may mean to keep, tend, watch over or retain. 

The garden, in a broad sense, embraces the natural environment as a whole. So, you see, man has a divine duty and responsibility to take good care of the natural environment! (If you believe in evolution this may not make sense to you).  

How so? It behooves you and me to apply our time and efforts to ensure a clean and balanced Garden of Eden sustainably, as this blog and others are trying to do. The Garden of Eden being the entire natural environment. Man then becomes responsible if the natural environment loses its intactness as a result of their negligence, as we find ourselves in now. The drying up of Lake Chad is a case in point!

LAKE CHAD NOT ALONE

Lake Chad is not the only lake going dry. The following are other lakes around the world going dry.

NO	NAME	PLACE	CAUSE	REMARK
01	Lake Karachay	Western Russia	Polluted with radioactive waste
02	Salton Sea	Southern California, Imperial Valley, USA	Pollution
03	Aral Sea	Uzbekistan	Rivers feeding the lake were Diverted for crop agriculture by Soviet Union
04	Lake Texcoco	Mexico	The building of Mexico City as capital of Mexico
05	Lake Zumpango	Mexico	“
06	Lake Xaltoca	Mexico	“
07	Lake Xochimilco	Mexico	“
08	Lake Chalco	Mexico	“
09	Dead Sea	Israel and Jordan	Irrigation, diversion of water inflow for urban use, climate change
10	Hamun Lake	Iran and Afghan border	“
11	Tulare Lake	California, USA	“
12	Urmia Lake	Iran	“
13	Owens Lake	California, USA	“
14	Walker Lake	Nevada, USA	“
15	Mono Lake	California, USA	“
16	Fucine Lake	Italy	“
17	Poyang Lake	China	“
18	Qinghai Lake	China	“
19	White Bear Lake	Minnesota, USA	“
20	Lake Meredith	Texas, USA	“
21	Lake Albert	South Australia	“
22	Lake Hindmarsh	Australia	“
23	Lake Poopo	Bolivia	“
24	Lake Copais	Boeotia, Greece	“
25	Lake George	New South Wales, Australia	“
26	Nainital	Uttarakhand, India	“
27	Bakhtegan Lake	Iran	“
28	Lake Amik	Turkey	“
29	Lake Faguibine	Mali	“
30	Lake Chapala	Mexico	“
31	Lake Mead	Nevada and Arizona	“

I have presented the list so as to give you a hint of the big picture.

ATTEMPTS AT RESTORATION

I have indicated that the Lake Chad Commission is meeting to find how Lake Chad could be restored. If they (nations comprising the Commission) had kept their eyes on Lake Chad the present state of the lake could had been prevented. That not being the case, the nations comprising the Commission now have the uphill task of restoration.

The efforts of the Commission is yet talk.

However, there is this case in which talk has been walked. Brooktrout Lake is the lake which was once declared dead but has been restored. Brooktrout Lake is located in the 6 million-acre Adirondack Park in Northern New York, USA. The lake was “killed” by acid rain. Brooktrout is one of many lakes in the Adirondack. In 1984 biologists noticed that the lake (Brooktrout) once teeming with trout had become completely devoid of trout.

After the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, putting emission limits on coal-burning plants, acid rain decreased triggering a restoration process. Biologists then stocked Brooktrout Lake (completely devoid of trout) with 20 adult trout and 2000 trout fingerlings.  The trout survived!  

According to the scientists doing the experiment, the sustained restoration of the lake is dependent on emission control! Because it is the emissions that caused the acid rain which in turn killed the lake.

PARTING SHOT

It should be noted that in the Brooktrout Lake case, the “death” of the lake was caused by man (emission from coal-burning plants). It should be noted also that the scientists are saying for restoration to be sustained there should be continued emission control.

Whether it is Lake Chad in Africa or Brooktrout Lake in New York in USA, for that matter other dying lakes around other parts of the world, legislative changes, commitment, practical applications of legislations sustainably, should reverse deterioration to restoration.

Restoration of the dying lakes is a multifaceted issue. When Brooktrout Lake, one part of the natural environment became acidified, the atmosphere, another part of the natural environment was polluted by emissions in the first place, which in turn caused the acid rain. The various components in the natural environment depend on each other to achieve a required balance.

Going back to basics, let us heed the divine mandate “to dress and to keep” the natural environment. Time has proved, scientifically, and continues to prove, more so now than ever, that you and I as earthlings, need to heed the divine mandate.