COP26: Climate change transforms Mali lake into desert, exiling population

A few days ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference, #COP26, new testimony from #Mali has laid bare how #climate risks threaten communities in conflict zones. Eighty kilometres from Timbuktu, around #LakeFaguibine, which has been evaporating since the 1970s, sand dunes have replaced vast expanses of water and farmland. For the six lakeside villages, the consequences have been dramatic: fishing is a thing of the past and inhabitants are left with no choice but to leave. © Juliette Montilly

A few days ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, new testimony from Mali has laid bare how climate risks threaten communities in conflict zones. Eighty kilometres from Timbuktu, around Lake Faguibine, which has been evaporating since the 1970s, sand dunes have replaced vast expanses of water and farmland. For the six lakeside villages, the consequences have been dramatic: fishing is a thing of the past and inhabitants are left with no choice but to leave.