India, Feb. 23 -- Climate change, religious conlficts andeconomic crisis have taken toll on people and environment

One of Africa's largest freshwater bodies, the Lake Chad, has shrunk by 90 per cent. Over 10 million people across the region are in need of emergency assistance. The United Nations has term the Lake Chad crisis as "one of the worst in the world".

Lake Chad in the Sahel straddles Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon and is home to 17.4 million people. It is blessed with rich aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity. The Lake Chad basin comprises biosphere reserves, World Heritage and Ramsar sites as well as wetlands of international conservation importance.

For years, the lake has been supporting drinking water, irrigation, fishi...