Land Use and Land Degradation in South-Western Niger: Change and Continuity

The Sahelian environment of West Africa has been transformed by social, economic and environmental change. Problems of land degradation, food and water shortage cause frequent hardship and disruption for the indigenous farmers and herders. Non-agricultural income is scarce, and often requires Sahelian people to migrate southwards in search of paid work or trade. These and other aspects of rural poverty are compounded by political and economic crises. This interdisciplinary project is describing and evaluating the relationships between environmental, social and economic change in a Zarma village in the rural hinterland of Niamey, south west Niger. The aim is to build a comprehensive environmental history, alongside data on land degradation and livelihood strategies. The local context is one of unstable politics and inactive local government. Research is showing how the community is coping with this adverse political economy, and land degradation, without direct support from the state or donors. A longer term aim is to provide a multi-disciplinary base-line where change, adaptive strategies, and environmental processes can be monitored. The research builds on a good existing data-set relevant to SW Niger. Working at the field, household, and terroir (village territory) scale, the project team is extending the data, using a Geographical Information System, to include resource mapping, land use changes since the 1950s and agricultural information. Measurements of soil erosion related to soil characteristics in selected fields are being up-scaled to the 100km2 terroir over which the community holds land rights. Ethnographic and participatory research, some conducted with local partners, is gauging the significance of migration, off-farm income and a perceived 'withdrawal' from agriculture towards agro-pastoral livelihoods. Gendered access to resources, the history of food shortages, indigenous characterisations of soils and plants, trends in yields, herding and market trading are also being assessed. Particular attention is being given to the economic valuations of land degradation and potable water (author's summary of project)