Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science International

Chad combines extreme exposure to climate variability with some of the weakest adaptive capacity in the world, yet the governance arrangements through which adaptation is planned, financed and delivered in the country have rarely been examined as an integrated whole. Existing scholarship is concentrated on the hydrology of Lake Chad, on the security crisis in the Lake Chad Basin or on the Sahel as a generic region, leaving the national and subnational institutions of adaptation comparatively neglected. This critical narrative review synthesises peer-reviewed literature, scholarly book chapters and authoritative institutional documents published between 2001 and 5 September 2026, identified through multidisciplinary, francophone and institutional sources and appraised for relevance, methodological transparency, contextual specificity and credibility. The evidence is organised around six analytical themes: the contested climate-risk evidence base; the national policy and institutional architecture; adaptation finance; sectoral arenas including pastoralism, land restoration, wetlands, urban flood risk, health and gender; the climate–security nexus; and pathways toward sustainability. Four findings emerge with reasonable confidence. First, Chad has accumulated a layered set of adaptation instruments, including a national adaptation programme of action, an updated nationally determined contribution and a first national adaptation plan, but implementation remains weak because mandates are fragmented, local authorities lack resources and climate data are sparse. Second, adaptation finance is largely conditional on external support, and allocation patterns that reward perceived governance quality disadvantage fragile states such as Chad. Third, sectoral interventions that disregard pastoral mobility, customary authority and local tenure arrangements risk maladaptation. Fourth, popular narratives of a disappearing Lake Chad and of climate-driven conflict oversimplify the evidence and can redirect policy toward securitised or engineering-led responses. Major uncertainties concern the effectiveness of interventions, the distributional consequences of adaptation and the interaction between climate shocks and state fragility. The review proposes a polycentric, conflict-sensitive and mobility-compatible governance pathway that links national planning with customary and municipal institutions, while recognising that the empirical basis for such a pathway in Chad remains thin and requires longitudinal, Chad-specific evaluation.