Geography
One of Africa's great lakes has shrunk by roughly 90% since the 1960s
Lake Chad covered about 26,000 square kilometres in the early 1960s; by some estimates, it now covers under 1,500. Decades of drought, a drier climate and heavy irrigation draw on the rivers that feed it have combined to shrink one of Africa's largest freshwater sources into a fraction of its former size. Around 30 million people across Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria still depend on what's left of it for water, fishing and farming.