Cameroon- Risk Prevention through Lake Chad Stabilization (PROSTABLT)

The “Prévenir les Risques par la Stabilisation au Lac Tchad” (PROSTABLT) project addresses the issue of fragility and the crucial need for recovery in the Lake Chad region. The region, tested by years of security crisis and the impact of climate change, needs to reduce the risks of perpetuating or even aggravating tensions, and restore the factors that will enable populations to resume development. The areas around Lake Chad have higher poverty rates than other parts of the countries concerned, chronic deficits in human capital, and a historic lack of access to basic services and infrastructure. With regard to the economy, two aggravating factors have taken on greater importance: violent conflicts over the past decade and climate change over a longer period, affecting the Lake, its water flow, its extent and the situation of riparian lands, among other things. As a result, access to major market areas has contracted, making it more difficult to carry out the agricultural, fishing and livestock activities that underpin the local economy. The causes and effects of these factors are cumulative: conflict, outbreaks of violence, emigration and displacement, land degradation, alienation of young people, reduced effectiveness of public institutions and services. To break out of this vicious circle of precariousness, a movement to restore access to basic social services, including protection and security, and to project populations, especially young people and women, towards suitable economic prospects is necessary, in line with national and regional strategies, as well as those of development institutions such as the Bank.