Programme to rehabilitate and strengthen the resilience of socio-ecological systems in the Lake Chad basin (‘PRESIBALT’)
The Lake Chad basin remains a very fragile area that is exposed to various stresses, which have been accentuated by climate change and human factors. The magnitude of the situation therefore calls for a regional intervention approach. The PRESIBALT programme is a regional operation that improves the resilience of vulnerable populations dependent on natural resources in the Lake Chad basin. Interventions target Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, Central African Republic and Chad.
In Chad, the programme is carrying out major development works to improve water availability from the tributaries of the Chari-Logone and Komadougou-Yobé in order to revitalise the flood plains and preserve ecosystems and biodiversity. Thanks to the project, 60 ha of Small Village Irrigated Perimeters (Petits périmètres irrigués villageois or PPIV) and 36 boreholes were also built. Placing the protection and strengthening of the resilience of socio-ecological systems at the heart of the programme, agreements were signed with UNESCO and SOS ELEPHANT to, among other things, create protected areas in the Chadian part of the basin. The agreements also made it possible to carry out studies on hydro-climatic variability within the Lake Chad basin, to train 10 community teachers in environmental education and to plant a total of 3,000 seedlings.
A honey house centre is also under construction and 250 people from the beneficiary communities have been trained in beekeeping.
The programme is implemented through a modular approach in order to take into account the security context and the extreme urgency to carry out actions to safeguard the environment and economic activities for the populations. This approach makes it possible to adapt the implementation of the programme according to different levels of security and according to local specificities.
