Wildlife of
Chad

Primary Threats

• Rising temperatures and increasing rainfall variability intensify droughts in the Sahel and contribute to extreme flood years that damage crops and natural vegetation. In the Lake Chad basin, climate variability compounds water stress and shifts wetlands and grazing availability, concentrating people, livestock, and wildlife around remaining water points and raising conflict and disease risk.
• Habitat is being converted or degraded along the southern belt (Sudanian savannas) through expansion of fields, wood harvesting for energy, and shortening fallow periods. In the Sahel, rangeland degradation and shrub/grass structure changes reduce forage and fragment movement corridors, while wetland contraction/alteration around the Lake Chad basin reduces breeding and refuge habitat for waterbirds, fish, and semi-aquatic species.
• Population growth and livelihood pressure push cultivation into marginal lands and closer to protected area boundaries in the south and south-east. This reduces contiguous savanna habitat and increases edge effects (encroachment, fires, grazing) that can degrade buffer zones and increase encounters between wildlife and farms.
• Heavy dependence on fuelwood and charcoal around towns and refugee/IDP-affected areas drives local deforestation and woodland thinning, especially in the Sahel/Sudanian transition. Overgrazing near wells and settlements depletes grasses and leads to soil compaction and erosion, undermining rangeland resilience and dry-season wildlife forage.
• Illegal hunting for bushmeat and opportunistic killing of wildlife persist in many landscapes, with higher pressure near roads, settlements, and in areas where enforcement is weak. Historical overhunting/poaching led to major declines of large mammals outside core protected areas; recovery is strongest where patrol coverage is consistent.
• Trafficking networks in the wider region have historically targeted ivory and other high-value wildlife products, with Chad's large territory and porous borders creating transit risk. Even where elephant poaching has been reduced in well-managed parks, demand and regional trafficking routes remain an ongoing threat.
• In the south-east and along riverine/wetland areas, elephants and other wildlife can damage crops, while predators may take livestock. As water and pasture become scarce in the dry season, wildlife and pastoralist herds concentrate in the same areas, increasing retaliatory killings and pressure to block wildlife access.
• Road development and associated settlement growth increase access to remote habitats and facilitate illegal hunting and resource extraction. Linear infrastructure can also disrupt seasonal movements of wildlife and concentrate human activities along corridors, increasing habitat fragmentation and disturbance near protected areas.
• Use of fire to manage pasture and clear land can shift savanna structure when burns become too frequent or poorly timed, reducing woody regeneration and altering habitat for ground-nesting birds and grazing species. In wetlands and floodplains, local water diversion and channel changes can affect seasonal inundation patterns critical for fisheries and biodiversity.
• Localized pollution from urban growth and small-scale industry affects waterways through untreated waste, while agricultural runoff (where inputs are used) can degrade water quality in southern rivers and wetland margins. In oil-producing areas, spill risk and associated contamination can affect soils and water if safeguards and response capacity are insufficient.
• Livestock-wildlife interface is intense in many Sahelian and Sudanian zones, creating risk of disease transmission (e.g., through shared water points and grazing). Drought-driven crowding of animals and people can increase outbreak likelihood and reduce wildlife condition, especially during harsh dry seasons.