groundwater crisis (ongoing): lake chad basin: diffa, niger

Over 2.4 million people are currently displaced across the four countries that border Lake Chad. The crisis was originally contained within northeastern Nigeria where Boko Haram focused their terror ,but in 2015, as the regions multinational force began to close in on its areas of control, the terrorist group crossed Nigeria's borders and began to target neighboring countries. Over 30 million people rely on Lake Chad for their livelihoods, an already precarious situation due to the drastic shrinking size of the Lake attributed to climate change, desertification, deforestation and the increasing demand for agricultural water. The spread of the crisis from NE Nigeria to its neighboring countries surrounding the Lake is resulting in one of the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. By 2017, over 300,000 refugees and displaced people escaped to the Diffa region in Niger alone attempting to find safety until they are able to return home. 

(Published- Time Lightbox 2017)