Lake Chad is a shallow and endorheic lake that extends between four countries, Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria. The lake has varied in size over the centuries, and it shrank dramatically in the past decades.
The lake ecosystem includes a wide variety of wetlands, such as open water, shoals, polders and temporary or permanent ponds that are rich in Natron (a naturally occurring mixture of salts). Around the lake, desert sands and water meet in a complex network of meanders, and the floodplains surrounding the lake are home to aquatic plants as well as many animal species including migratory birds that use these plains as resting areas.

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Lake Chad was submitted in 2018 to the UNESCO Tentative List in Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria as part of Lake Chad Cultural Landscape.