Chad

By Djimet Issa Mahamat BOLOM, CHAD — In the shimmering early light, pirogues glide quietly across the placid surface of Lake Chad. For the first time in decades, the water stretches wider, reflecting not just the sky, but a growing sense of optimism in surrounding villages. Fishermen haul in nets with renewed hope. Women draw cleaner water. Birds—once strangers—have returned. After years of despair over a shrinking shoreline and lost livelihoods, Lake Chad is making a cautious, yet promising comeback, thanks to an unprecedented coalition of local resilience, international cooperation, and science-backed environmental action. “This water means life,” says Khadidja Oumar, a farmer in the village of Bol. “Without it, we...