These Proceedings include (1) the report of and (2) the background paper prepared for
the Workshop on climate change implications for fishing communities in the Lake Chad
Basin: What have we learned and what can we do better? The Workshop was hosted by
the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) from 18 to 20 November 2011, attended by
the Lake Chad Basin countries of Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad,
Niger and Nigeria, and financed through a Japanese-funded, and Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO)-implemented, project component on
Fisheries management and marine conservation within a changing ecosystem context
(GCP/INT/253/JPN), in collaboration with LCBC. Presentation topics included: the
hydrology of the Lake Chad region, national contexts of climate change and fisheries,
identification and reduction of climate change vulnerability in the fisheries of the Lake
Chad Basin and an overview of current projects on Lake Chad. Discussions largely
focused on: hydrology and climate trends of the Lake Chad basin, national perspectives
on impacts and adaptations of climate change, current natural resources projects in the Lake Chad Basin and recommendations for actions to increase adaptability and resilience to be carried out. The Workshop recommended that there is more coordinated action and information sharing regarding natural resources, and increased cooperation between LCBC member State governments to support and strengthen existing political commitments in the Lake Chad Basin for effective aquatic resource use management to ensure sustainable development of land and aquatic based activities in the basin.