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The four countries bordering Lake Chad on Friday launched a fund to raise $ 100 million to help combat climate change and a devastating jihadist insurgency.
The largest lake in West Africa – whose shores are shared by Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria – has declined by 90% since the 1960s, due to global warming and mismanagement of water.
The region is a fiefdom for Nigeria-based Boko Haram activists, whose ten-year-old revolt left thousands dead and more than two million displaced.
The Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) said the "stabilization funds" would initially have a budget of about $ 100 million (about 90 million euros).
The money "will serve as a rapid response mechanism" to help local authorities counter Boko Haram by strengthening basic services and support, he said in a statement.
The two-year project, which will begin in eight regions starting in September, will depend heavily on external donors.
The fund and the call for funds were launched Friday in Niamey, the capital of Niger, on the sidelines of the forum of governors of the eight regions.
Sweden has announced a contribution of about 8 million dollars (about 7 million euros), said the LCBC, while the European Union (EU), Britain and the United States. Germany has promised "badistance".
The decline of Lake Chad has impoverished many families, pushing young people to join the jihadists.
The UN estimates that 10.7 million people in the region depend on food aid.
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