Climate change and human activity are threatening the existence of some of the world’s largest lakes, lakes in Bolivia, the Middle East, China and west Africa are disappearing. Lake Wegnia is located in Koulikoro in Mali's Sahel region north of the capital Bamako .. Some 12,000 people including fishermen, farmers and herders depend on it for food, water and income, while its fresh waters and marshes also contain rich biodiversity. Lake Faguibine also in Mali, shockingly, has been almost completely dry since 1990 following a prolonged drought. It had previously stood at 230 square miles but has almost completely disappeared. Lake Assal in Djibouti is also evaporating at an alarming rate due to drought as temperatures in the African country can often reach over 50 degrees celsius, which could be a result of global warming. The lake also sees very little rainfall feed it and is one of the few bodies of water that is shrinking for reasons other than human intervention. In Mexico, Lake Chapala has reduced by 25 per cent due to a combination of drought and diversion. The surface area of Lake Chapala in March 1986 was 1,048 square kilometers (259,000 acres). By March 2001, it had diminished to 812 square kilometers (201,000 acres) The shrinking of the once vast Aral Sea left behind a salty wasteland dotted with abandoned fishing boats and ruined the local economy. Scientists are now working out ways to catalogue and map the world’s most threatened ecosystems, similar to the list of endangered species. Shrinking lake in Mali spells end of line for family of fishermen..as temperatures rise, evaporation increases and the lake shrinks - phenomena experts blame on global climate change. “If things go on like this I don’t think our children can become fishermen like us,”..“During the rainy season there is a lot of water but as soon as it’s over, there is no water left in the lake. We are fishermen. I don’t think our children will be.” Poyang Lake in China is an important wildlife sanctuary, providing habitats for half a million migratory birds. It is a favourite destination for migrating Siberian cranes and is home to the endangered finless porpoise, known locally as the jiangzhu. The current rate of population decrease is likely to spell extinction for the porpoise by 2025. Poyang Lake – it's China’s largest freshwater lake has been shrinking dramatically since the start of the century. At one point, the lake covered 4,500 square kilometres but its surface has been recently recorded as low as 200 square kilometres. Lake Poopó in Bolivia was a large saline lake located in the Altiplano in Bolivia. The photo on the left, taken on 12 April 2013, shows the lake filled with water. The photo on the right was taken less than two years later, showing the lake almost dry. Glacial melting and the diversion of the lake’s tributaries contributed to its decline. The lake used to cover about 1,000 square kilometres and was home to four native species of fish. Dead Sea – Jordan, Israel, Palestine..The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth, has been shrinking at a rate of around one metre each year, for the last 50 years. One of the main reasons behind this depletion is that some of the water sources it relied on were diverted in the 1960s. In Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan the Aral Sea has been shrinking steadily since the 1960s after its tributaries were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects. By 2007, the lake had declined to 10% of its original size and had split into four separate lakes... the South Aral Sea has now completely dried up, the lake has shrunk by 20% since 2017, placing huge pressure on local communities. Many of the shrinking Lakes do experience natural cycles of drying and flooding, but climate change is also altering the natural water cycle, causing more variability and extreme conditions.' They were once great bodies of water containing an abundance of wildlife and an important resource for humans...the warming climate, combined with more frequent or extreme droughts, creates conditions for increased evaporation and less water reaching lakes. Food insecurity, the fight for arable land and fast population growth can lead to conflict, Less freshwater in the lake creates higher salinity, making the water inhospitable to the fish, wildlife and humans that depend on the lake for water and food. Many of the most threatened lakes in the world are also important for biodiversity conservation and support migratory birds and diverse fisheries.

• published: 01 Dec 2019
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