Paper Details

Lake Chad, classified as one of the world's most important agricultural heritage sites, has over the past years been reported to have seriously shrunken due to several anthropogenic activities and natural factors. This results in serious modifications of its hydrological conditions especially its shorelines and spatial extents. Shoreline change refers to the loss or gain of land area or changes to the landscape at the intersection region of the land and water bodies. Lamentably for Lake Chad there is little or absence of clear identification of areas of greatest shoreline change for prioritizing resource allocation for management and protection solutions. Consequently past regulatory frameworks initiated by respective governments of the countries of Lake Chad have failed to sustainably address the underlying factors and mitigate the effects of these changes. To identify areas of great shoreline changes, this study examined the 1991- 2021 dynamics of the Lake’s Shoreline along the Nigeria boundary using Landsat imageries obtained from the USGS Website and Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) tools. The findings revealed a total decrease of 13.619 km, and an average annual decrease of 3.405 km in distances, with accretion rates dominating approximately 88.53%, while erosion accounted for 11.47%. Areas of Baga, and WulgoMamaduro, are experiencing accretion while Wulgo Mamaduro to Balangua region witnessed the highest erosion rates. These results will help in the identification of vulnerable areas, guide the selection of suitable sites for the establishment of monitoring programs, and for the development of sustainable strategic plans for the lake's shorelines management. Keywords: Shoreline, Lake Chad, Landsat, Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS)