Impacts environnementaux de l’exploitation du sable lacustre (lac aheme)

This article establishes an environmental and socio-economic diagnosis of the sand sector in Lake Ahémé and the repercussions of its exploitation on the local populations. It assesses the societal problems caused by lake sand management methods. The methodological approach consisted of field work (direct observation and socio-anthropological surveys), the calculation of indices of reduced centered anomalies, etc. In addition, the exposure and impact indicators developed using the sensitivity matrix of Léopold (1971) made it possible to highlight the main elements of the degradation of Lake Ahémé. The exploitation of lake sand extracted from Lake Ahémé is still embryonic, artisanal and totally unorganized. In the Lake Ahémé sector, sand mining is more than a socio-professional retraining activity and is led by key players trained by quarry operators, divers, collectors, loaders and consumers. It allows these actors to increase their income and improve their social and economic conditions. But the exploitation of lake sand in Lake Ahémé has direct impacts such as the destruction of the ecological habitats of aquatic fauna, fauna and flora at the bottom of the lake (more than 75%), the degradation of waterways (90%). In addition, the health of the direct actors (divers, collectors, loaders (more than 95%)), involved in the activity, is affected by the lake sand mining system. It is important to reorganize and regulate the exploitation of lake sand and to implement the measures proposed for sustainable environmental and social management.