Publication: Rural Societies in the Face of Climate and Environmental Changes in West Africa

The future of West Africa depends on the ability of its agricultural sector to ensure food security for a population expected to double over the next 20 years, while addressing the new risks posed by global warming. Indeed, the changes in temperature and precipitation that are already underway—and are expected to become more pronounced—will have serious consequences for agricultural production and water resources in this part of Africa in the near future.

One of the keys to meeting this new challenge is the adaptation of rural societies to climate risks. To gain a better understanding of the potential, processes, and barriers, this book analyzes recent and ongoing trends in the climate and the environment and examines how rural societies perceive and integrate them: what are the impacts of these changes, what vulnerabilities exist, but also what new opportunities do they bring? How do populations adapt, and what innovations do they implement—while climate-induced effects interact with the social, political, economic, and technical changes currently underway in Africa?

By bringing together French and African scientists (climatologists, agronomists, hydrologists, ecologists, demographers, geographers, anthropologists, sociologists, and others) in a multidisciplinary approach, the book makes a valuable contribution to better anticipating climate risks and assessing African societies’ ability to withstand them.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Recent and future climate change in West Africa. Obvious features, uncertainties, and perceptions

1. Climate warming observed in the Sahel since 1950
2. The return of a wet period in the Sahel? Observations and prospects
3. Climate projections in West Africa: the evident and the uncertain
4. Contrasting perceptions of climate change. Scientific observations in three West African contexts
5. When nature speaks to us. A comparative analysis of representations of climatic and environmental changes

2. Impacts of climate and environmental changes

1. Between desertification and regreening of the Sahel. What is really happening?
2. Anthropogenic and environmental factors contributing to increased flooding in the Sahel
3. The forage constraint in pastoral and agropastoral livestock farming in the Sahel. Adaptation and prospects
4. Paradoxical changes in ponds in the uncultivated Sahel. Diagnosis, causes, and consequences
5. The impacts of climate change on crop yields in West Africa

3. Social changes in rural populations

1. Rural populations facing environmental hazards. African experiences
2. Land rights and fertility management. Two different perspectives: Djougou (Benin) and Niakhar (Senegal)
3. The role of seasonal and multi-year migration in reducing vulnerability. Hombori and Djougou districts
4. Seasonal migration and climate change in rural Senegal. A form of adaptation or failure to adapt?
5. Female migration, a non-farming strategy for adaptation to climatic and environmental changes in Imanan (Niger)
6. Political changes, landholding dynamics, and socioeconomic reconstruction. Imanan administrative district (Niger)

4. Adaptation of farming systems, innovations

1. Innovation in rural West Africa. What changes in farming practices?
2. The return of Sanio millet in the Sine region. Rational adaptation to climate change
3. Reintroducing livestock to increase the sustainability of village landscapes in West Africa. The case of the groundnut basin in Senegal
4. An example of an adaptive strategy in the face of food insecurity. Potato farming in Imanan (Republic of Niger)

FEATURES

Publisher: IRD Editions

Series: Synthèses

Publication date: November 24, 2017