Desertification monitoring centre set up

Chadian Environment Minister Oumar Kadjalami inaugurated a national data collection centre on Friday, to compile statistics on desertification in the country, a ministry official told IRIN. The centre, a unit of the Agency for Domestic Energy and the Environment, is at a pilot phase and will initially monitor a 200-km radius around the capital N’djamena, the source said.

The centre is part of the government’s effort to stop desertification and environmental degradation in the land-locked country. Desertification is a major phenomenon in Chad where upward 80 percent of homes use firewood for fuel, he said. At least 60 percent of Chad’s 1,284 million sq. km. of landmass is threatened by desertification, he added.