UN Secretary General, António Guterres, has released a report calling for action on the root causes of the humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad Basin region.
The report released in New York on Saturday evening called on key countries to work up a regional plan to identify and address the root causes of the crisis.
“This is in the hope that the UN system can make headway into solving what some say is the world’s most extensive humanitarian crises.
“So far,more than 17 million people have been affected by the violent Lake Chad crisis.
“The crisis is touching communities in Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria with over 10 million currently needing humanitarian assistance, according to the report.
“This comes as competition for natural resources is heating up, in an already fragile and violent environment,” it stated.
These factors according to the report, have created a space which allowed terrorist group Boko Haram to thrive.
The report claims the conflict has displaced more than 2.4 million people.
The report was commissioned by the UNSC earlier in 2018 as part of a resolution which outlined their concern about the interplay of factors leading to the crisis there.
It called for better collaboration amongst UN agencies armed to deal with the situation.
It was passed after 15 UN Security Council diplomats headed to the Lake Chad basin to see the dire situation themselves.
However, while the call for a plan is welcome, the report focuses predominantly on the humanitarian crisis, the rise of Boko Haram and the response by international funders to that crisis.
It is much lighter on the need to understand the climate and environmental dimensions of the crisis, and how they impact livelihoods and economic opportunities in the region, increasing the marginalisation of vulnerable groups.
This is in spite of the report acknowledging tha there has been a significant drop in yields from fisheries and crops in irrigated areas around the lake.(NAN)