Cross-border Illicit Economies, Environmental Degradation and Health Vulnerabilities in the Lake Chad Basin: A One Health Perspective

This article examines how cross-border illicit economies may contribute to environmental degradation and health vulnerabilities in the Lake Chad Basin. Drawing on a qualitative review of scientific literature, institutional reports and documented cases from Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, the study sees human health, ecosystems, livestock, and natural resource governance as linked by the frame of reference of One Health. The article shows how the trafficking and informal circulation of livestock, fish, fuel, agricultural inputs and wildlife may interact with ecological pressures, weak regulation and insufficient health controls. Environmental risks, economic insecurity and health vulnerabilities converge because of pesticide persistence in soils, toxic elements in groundwater, contaminants in fish and cattle rustling. The article calls for integrated cross-border surveillance, traceability, food safety monitoring and One Health cooperation.