The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that already, greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere are high enough to guarantee climate disruption for decades if not centuries. This is already taking its toll on Malawi ‘s second largest lake, Lake Chilwa.
Thousands of people in Malawi depend on the country’s second largest lake, Lake Chilwa, to make a living. Professor Sosten Chiotha, Regional Director of Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD), says that climate change has introduced “extremity in weather”, resulting in less rainfall and abnormally low water levels in the lake.
According to Professor Sosten Chiotha, Records show the lake has dried completely several times in the last 100 years… according to published literature, it was a cycle of 20 to 25 years, From the 1990s, the frequency of the drying has increased and this is connected to the impacts of extreme weather events typical of climate change.
One-and-a-half million people live in the areas on the Lake Chilwa basin, which is one of the most densely populated areas in southern Africa.
