I am in the Lake Chad basin, right in the centre of the continent. It’s 45 degrees Celsuis. I am on the back of a truck on a desert road, crammed in with 20 Chadians and their animals and goods, heading to the town of Bol. Today is market day. Bol used to be one of the main economic hubs in this area: livestock was shipped from here to Nigeria, fishing was rife, and people used to converge here from all over. But today, the few stalls which comprise Bol’s tiny market are one of the last remaining glimpses of Lake Chad’s former vitality. This is the front line of the climate change crisis and home to some of the most vulnerable people on Earth.
Lake Chad is a source of livelihood for millions of people. In recent decades it has shrunk to 90 per cent of its original size due to climate change and a population explosion. As the desert encroaches ever further, families are finding it increasingly difficult to make a living out of fishing and farming. Yet they haven’t lost hope. Resilience has manifested itself in the Great Green Wall: a dream to grow a wall of trees and plants across the entire width of Africa, to bring life back to the Sahel. It is an emerging wonder changing lives on the African continent.
We pass a sign: The Great Green Wall. At the settlement, I disembark the truck and bid my fellow passengers farewell. I can’t fail to notice the significant temperature drop. All of a sudden, I see an abundance of birds singing and flying between trees. It feels unreal—an incredible oasis in the middle of the desert.