ALM UNDP

Summary:

UNHCR and its partners, including the Chad government, are addressing the effects of climate change with programmes aimed at better management of dwindling water resources and at holding back desertification by planting trees in one of the driest and hottest countries on earth.

In a further bid to halt desertification, UNHCR and its partners have provided firewood to refugees who would otherwise go out and cut down trees and shrubs – a practice now banned by the government. Alternative fuel sources, such as gas and biogas, have been introduced in Chad and other countries, along with energy saving stoves and solar-powered cookers.

To protect eastern Chad's scarce water reserves, UNHCR and the Ministry of Environment have been implementing a more sustainable strategy. The three-year approach uses a combination of modern and traditional techniques. In the first year, new wells and boreholes have been dug in the camps and surrounding villages, while a special team searches for new underground reserves.