Chad
Chad
Source: NASA
Chad is a landlocked nation of nearly eleven million people in northern-central Africa, south of Libya.
The country strectchs from the Sahara Desert in the north, through Selhel in its center, and savanna in the south. Lake Chad, in the west of the country, is the most significant water body in the Sahel.
Chad's major environmental issues incude:
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- inadequate supplies of potable water;
- improper waste disposal in rural areas contributes to soil and water pollution; and,
- desertification.
It is susceptible to hot, dry, dusty harmattan winds in north; periodic droughts; and locust plagues.
Chad, part of France's African holdings until 1960, endured three decades of civil warfare as well as invasions by Libya before a semblance of peace was finally restored in 1990.
The government eventually drafted a democratic constitution, and held flawed presidential elections in 1996 and 2001.
In 1998, a rebellion broke out in northern Chad, which has sporadically flared up despite several peace agreements between the government and the rebels.
In 2005, new rebel groups emerged in western Sudan and made probing attacks into eastern Chad, despite signing peace agreements in December 2006 and October 2007.
In June 2005, President Idriss Deby held a referendum successfully removing constitutional term limits and won another controversial election in 2006.
Sporadic rebel campaigns continued from 2006 to early 2008, but have since fallen off, in part due to Chad's 2010 rapprochement with Sudan, which previously used Chadian rebels as proxies. Deby in 2011 was reelected to his fourth term in an election that international observers described as proceeding without incident.
Power remains in the hands of an ethnic minority.
Geography
Location: Central Africa, south of Libya
Geographic Coordinates: 15 00 N, 19 00 E
Area: 1.284 million km2 (1,259,200 km2 land and 24,800 km2 water)
arable land: 2.8%
permanent crops: 0.02%
other: 97.18% (2005)
Land Boundaries: 5,968 km Border countries: Cameroon 1,094 km, Central African Republic 1,197 km, Libya 1,055 km, Niger 1,175 km, Nigeria 87 km, Sudan 1,360 km
Natural Hazards: hot, dry, dusty harmattan winds occur in north; periodic droughts; locust plagues
Terrain:Broad, arid plains in center, desert in north, mountains in northwest, lowlands in south. Its lowest point is the Djourab Depression (160 metres) and its highest point is Emi Koussi (3,415 metres)
Climate: Tropical in south, desert in north
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Source: Wikimedia Commons |
Topography of Chad. Source: Wikimedia Commons |
Ecology and Biodiversity
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Ecoregions of Chad. Source: World Wildlife Fund |
Government
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Government Type: Republic Capital: N'Djamena - 808,000 (2009) Administrative Divisions: 22 regions (regions, singular - region);
Independence Date: 11 August 1960 (from France) Legal System: mixed legal system of civil and customary law. Chad has not submitted an International Court of Justice (ICJ) jurisdiction declaration; but accepts International Criminal Court (ICCt) jurisdiction. Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal |
Source: Wikimedia Commons |
International Environmental Agreements
Chad is party to international agreements on: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, and Wetlands. It has signed, but not ratified agreements of the Law of the Sea and Marine Dumping.
International Disputes
Since 2003, ad hoc armed militia groups and the Sudanese military have driven hundreds of thousands of Darfur residents into Chad.
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| Chari River. Source: Rebecca Musarra/Wikimedia Commons |
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| Aorounga Impact Crater, located in the Sahara Desert of north-central Chad, is one of the best-preserved impact structures in the world. The crater is thought to be about 345-370 million years old, based on the age of the sedimentary rocks deformed by the impact. Radar data suggests that Aorounga is one of a set of three craters formed by the same impact event. The other two suggested impact structures are buried by sand deposits. Image courtesy of NASA. |
Chad wishes to be a helpful mediator in resolving the Darfur conflict, and in 2010 established a joint border monitoring force with Sudan, which has helped to reduce cross-border banditry and violence.
Only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty, which also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries.
People and Society
Population: 10,758,945 (July 2011 est.)
Ethnic groups: Sara 27.7%, Arab 12.3%, Mayo-Kebbi 11.5%, Kanem-Bornou 9%, Ouaddai 8.7%, Hadjarai 6.7%, Tandjile 6.5%, Gorane 6.3%, Fitri-Batha 4.7%, other 6.4%, unknown 0.3% (1993 census)
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 46% (male 2,510,656/female 2,441,780)
15-64 years: 51% (male 2,531,896/female 2,960,406)
65 years and over: 2.9% (male 131,805/female 182,402) (2011 est.)
Population Growth Rate: 2.009% (2011 est.)
Birthrate: 39.4 births/1,000 population (2011 est.)
Death Rate: 15.47 deaths/1,000 population (July 2011 est.)
Net Migration Rate: -3.84 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2011 est.)
Life Expectancy at Birth: 48.33 years (2011 est.)
Total Fertility Rate: 5.05 children born/woman (2011 est.)
Languages: French (official), Arabic (official), Sara (in south), more than 120 different languages and dialects
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write French or Arabic
total population: 25.7%
male: 40.8%
female: 12.8% (2000 est.)
Urbanization: 28% of total population (2010) grpowing at an annual rate of change of 4.6% (2010-15 est.)
Water
Total Renewable Water Resources: 43 cu km (1987)
Freshwater Withdrawal: total: 0.23 cu km/yr (17% domestic, industrial, 83% agricultural)
Per Capita Freshwater Withdrawal: 24 cu m/yr (2000)
Access to improved sources of drinking water: 50% of population
Access to improved sanitation facilities: 9% of population
Lake Chad, once one of the African continent's largest bodies of fresh water, has dramatically decreased in size due to climate change and human demand for water. Once a great lake close in surface area to North America's Lake Erie, Lake Chad is now a ghost of its former self. According to a study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers, working with NASA's Earth Observing System program, the lake is now 1/20th of the size it was 35 years ago.
Found at the intersection of four different countries in West Africa (Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon), Lake Chad has been the source of water for massive irrigation projects. In addition, the region has suffered from an increasingly dry climate, experiencing a significant decline in rainfall since the early 1960s.
The most dramatic decrease in the size of the lake is shown in the fifteen years between January 1973 and January 1987. Beginning in 1983 the amount of water used for irrigation began to increase. Ultimately, between 1983 and 1994, the amount of water diverted for purposes of irrigation quadrupled from the amount used in the previous 25 years. The red color denotes vegetation on the lake bed and the ripples on the western edge of the lake denote sand dunes formed by the wind.
The bottom picture is a composite of Landsat-7 images from November 2000 to February 2001 showing the present stage of Lake Chad. The small patch of blue that is now the lake stands in stark contrast to the wide swath of the old lake bed (shown in green, indicating vegetation).
Source: NASA. Images courtesy NASA GSFC Scientific Visualization Studio and Landsat 7 Project Science Office.
Agriculture
Agricultural Products: cotton, sorghum, millet, peanuts, rice, potatoes, manioc (tapioca); cattle, sheep, goats, camels
Irrigated Lands: 300 sq km (2003)
Resources
Natural Resources: petroleum, uranium, natron, kaolin, fish (Lake Chad), gold, limestone, sand and gravel, salt.
Energy
| Production | Consumption | Exports | Imports | Reserves | |
| Electricity |
100 million kWh (2008 est.) |
93 million kWh (2008 est.) |
0 kWh (2009 est.) |
0 kWh (2009 est.) |
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| Oil |
126,200 bbl/day (2010 est.) |
2,000 bbl/day (2010 est.) |
115,000 bbl/day (2009 est.) |
1,837 bbl/day (2009 est.) |
1.5 billion bbl (1 January 2006 est.) |
| Natural Gas |
0 cu m (2009 est.) |
0 cu m (2009 est.) |
0 cu m (2009 est.) |
0 cu m (2009 est.) |
0 cu m (1 January 2011 est.) |
| Source: CIA Factbook | |||||
Economy
Chad's primarily agricultural economy will continue to be boosted by major foreign direct investment projects in the oil sector that began in 2000.
At least 80% of Chad's population relies on subsistence farming and livestock raising for its livelihood.
Chad's economy has long been handicapped by its landlocked position, high energy costs, and a history of instability.
Chad relies on foreign assistance and foreign capital for most public and private sector investment projects.
Remittances are also an important source of income.
The Libyan conflict disrupted inflows of remittances to Chad's impoverished western region which relies on income from Chadians living in Libya.
A consortium led by two US companies has been investing $3.7 billion to develop oil reserves - estimated at 1.5 billion barrels - in southern Chad.
Chinese companies are also expanding exploration efforts and have completed a 311-km pipeline and the country's first refinery.
The nation's total oil reserves are estimated at 1.5 billion barrels. Oil production came on stream in late 2003. Chad began to export oil in 2004.
Cotton, cattle, and gum arabic provide the bulk of Chad's non-oil export earnings.
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $19.69 billion (2011 est.)
GDP (Official Exchange Rate): $9.6 billion (2011 est.)
GDP-per capita (PPP): $1,900 (2011 est.)
GDP-composition by sector:
agriculture: 52.7%
industry: 6.7%
services: 40.6% (2011 est.)
Population Below Poverty Line: 80% (2001 est.)
Industries: oil, cotton textiles, meatpacking, brewing, natron (sodium carbonate), soap, cigarettes, construction materials
Exports: oil, cattle, cotton, gum arabic
Export Partners: US 87.2%, Japan 3.6%, South Korea 2.8% (2006)
Imports: machinery and transportation equipment, industrial goods, foodstuffs, textiles
Import Partners: France 19.8%, Cameroon 15.7%, US 10.6%, China 9.2%, Germany 7.3%, Saudi Arabia 4.3% (2006)
Economic Aid Recipient: ODA, $379.8 million (2005)
Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XAF)
Citation
Central Intelligence Agency, World Wildlife Fund, National Aeronautics and Space Administra (Lead Author);CIA World Factbook (Content Source);Lakhdar Boukerrou, Peter Saundry (Topic Editor) "Chad". In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth May 30, 2009; Last revised Date February 5, 2012; Retrieved February 6, 2012 <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Chad>
The Authors
The Central Intelligence Agency was created in 1947 with the signing of the National Security Act by President Harry S. Truman. The act also created a Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) to serve as head of the United States intelligence community; act as the principal adviser to the President for intelligence matters related to the national security; and serve as head of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 amended the National Securit ... (Full Bio)
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1958, partially in response to the Soviet Union's launch of the first artificial satellite. NASA grew out of the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, which had been researching flight technology for more than 40 years. Today, NASA conducts its work in four principle organizations, called mission directorates: Aeronautics: pioneering and proving new flight technologies that improve our ab ... (Full Bio)
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