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A few days before the COP26 in Scotland, Mali, the lake Faguibine is dry. Vast expanses of water and arable land have given way to sand dunes. For the neighboring villages, the consequences are dramatic.
Lake Faguibine was one of the largest lakes in Mali. All the life of the villages surroundings depended on its water in this region on the edge of the Sahara Desert, 80 km from Timbuktu. But the last drop of the lake Faguibine evaporated. “The waters first receded and trees began to grow around the lake. The trees then started to disappear and people cultivated the land. And when there was no more forest, the dunes formed “, explains Abdul Karim Ag Al Hassane, a former farmer. The dunes eventually engulfed the lake.
For lack of vegetation, the sand is not fixed and ravages the villages. The classrooms of a school that accommodated 400 students were buried. They are now inaccessible. The young people fled the region. Those who stay live on odd jobs. Agriculture, animal husbandry and fishing are obviously impossible. Alhousna Walet Alhassane has no choice but to sell the little wood that rest to earn some money, even if she is aware “that it destroys the environment “. In this landscape swept away by desolation, the humanitarian situation has become worrying. Mali is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change.
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