Sahelian Shepherds still struggling 25 years after the big drought

Since the early 1970s, the position of pastoralists in West Africa's Sahel zone has become ever more precarious. Their plight is evidenced by rural-urban migration movements as well as the results of field surveys. The last major drought of 1983-1985 delivered a major blow to communities which derive most of their food and revenues from herding. In many rangeland areas there is civil unrest - even building to armed conflict in places - owing to mounting tensions between various pastoral groups. Daunted by the complexities of the issues and the difficulties of finding appropriate ways of intervening, more and more aid organisations are becoming less and less involved in pastoral development.

Fifteen years after the 1983-1985 drought, some communities still seem to be in an irreversible cycle of impoverishment. But seeking to explain the current crisis largely in terms of climatic factors overlooks the fact that Sahelian pastoral systems have been negatively affected by socio-economic changes. By and large these influences originate in realms beyond the control of pastoralists. It is apparent that:

• pastoral resources, notably water and pasture, are shrinking through pressure from farming
• herders have been experiencing decreasing security of tenure over rangeland and access to commonhold resources
• loss of control over pastoral resources has also resulted from modern infrastructure, such as boreholes and cemented wells which have weakened traditional systems of negotiation over access to waterpoints and other key resources.

These institutional and political pressures have sapped the capacity of pastoralists to adopt flexible coping strategies in the face of climatic fluctuations and other natural pressures but have won increasing official sanction. Until the end of the 1980s, herders were considered to be economically unproductive and environmentally destructive. Policymaking was largely based on the assumption that herders were apparently unable to manage common range resources rationally. More recently, however, a new vision of pastoral societies has emerged in which traditional pastoral management - and the substantial body of knowledge underlying it - is seen to be both rational and effective. It is now understood that the presence of livestock is vital for the regeneration of natural pastures, and the stability of annual grasslands.

Pastoral societies continually have to pursue a 'non-equilibrium' lifestyle to cope with the variability of resources between seasons and years. Mobility remains a vital strategy which allows for optimum use of scattered and unpredictable resources and is least damaging to fragile ecosystems over time. So it is no surprise that moves to privatise rangelands or persuade nomadic herders to settle have not worked.

The future of pastoralism depends on the ability of governments and aid organisations to come to terms with several key issues and dilemmas. Legislation in the west African Sahel states has still not found a way of supporting traditional 'common property resource' regimes. And numerous non-technical improvements in the social and political context of pastoralists could also be decisive in promoting a viable pastoral system, including:

• guaranteeing their capacity to negotiate access to key resources
• correcting their current, highly marginalised position in civil society
• promoting their involvement on the political scene and in the process of decentralisation
• supporting the growing role of new pastoral associations
• increasing access to information through access to literacy, education and training
• countering the negative effects of state withdrawal from functions such as conflict resolution.

Source(s):
'Rethinking Range Ecology : Implications for Rangeland Management in Africa', Overseas Development Institute, Paper no 33 Behnke R.H., Scoones I., 1992,
'Range Ecology at Disequilibrium, New Models of Natural Viability and Pastoral Adaptation in African Savannas', ODI/IIED/Commonwealth Secretariat, R. H., Scoones , Kerven C., (ed.), 1993
'Recognising the Effectiveness of Traditional Pastoral Practices : Lessons from a controlled grazing experiment in Northern Senegal', International Institute for Environment and Development, Drylands Programme, April 1995

Funded by: Research was performed from 1982 to 1994 through various fundings among which the International Labour Organization in Geneva. Conference enabled by North and West Africa Department, DFID

id21 Research Highlight: 1998-July-20

Further Information:
Brigitte Thebaud
Rural Economist, Consultant and Associate Researcher
(EHSS, Paris, France)
Skovbovaengets Sidealle 5
DK-4000 Roskilde
Denmark

Fax: (0045) 45 46 32 05 54
Contact the contributor: bthebaud@isa.dknet.dk

EHSS, Paris, France