societies and nature in the sahel: ecological diversity and social dynamics

*Tel.: #33-557-57-15-59; fax: #33-556-51-85-64.E-mail address: [email protected] (C. Raynaut).

Global Environmental Change 11 (2001) 9}18

Societies and nature in the Sahel:ecological diversity and social dynamics

Claude Raynaut*Universite& Bordeaux 2, 146 rue Le&o Saignat, 33076 Bordeaux, Cedex, France

Abstract

This paper, based on the results of a comprehensive interdisciplinary research programme focused on "ve countries of the WesternSahel, suggests a framework for analysing the complex and constantly changing dynamics of the relations that Sahelian societiesmaintain with their environment. Firstly, tools for understanding local variability are required. Demographic variables and thediversity of the modes of land use are combined to show that the type and intensity of exploitation of natural resources variesdramatically from one locality to another. There are signi"cant di!erences between Sahelian social systems and cultures, and thesein#uence their relations with the &nature' they exploit and transform. Secondly, understanding social, economical and technicalchanges in the Sahel requires that we recognise that powerful and con#icting processes of transformation are taking place (in contrastto the image of `traditiona widely associated with Sahelian societies). These changes are found to be the result of an interactionbetween the state, rural producers, urban speculators, international development agencies, and other actors. Practical lessons emergefrom the analysis. Access and negotiation over natural resources must be facilitated between many actors who compete for them, andlocal social and environmental problems must be seen in the context of broader patterns of in#uence and change. The State will retainits importance in the region. `Participationa in development must not only involve local `populationsa, but also the `developersa ofall types, in contributing to and understanding the human dimensions of environmental change in the Sahel. ( 2001 Elsevier ScienceLtd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Agriculture; Demography; Environment; Herding; Nature; Sahel; Social dynamics

1. Introduction

The horrifying famine of 1974 and the accompanyingdeath of several hundred thousand cattle confrontedworld public opinion, as well as specialists in develop-ment and natural scientists, with the "rst evidence ofa huge ecological crisis in the Sahel; a crisis that haslasted until the present day. It precipitated an unprece-dented mobilisation of resources, local and internationalgoodwill, and a major scienti"c debate. From the begin-ning, this became not so much a confrontation of scient-i"c hypotheses, as a sharp division between competingperspectives. Natural and social scientists each thoughtthat they alone held the ultimate explanation.

As the drought continued in the mid-1970s, and evenintensi"ed, it became obvious that the crisis was long-lived, and that it was not con"ned to one part of the

Sahelian zone. Despite this, in-depth geographical andanthropological studies, as well as the knowledge accu-mulated through development interventions, highlightedthe diversity of its impacts. There were wide variations inthe driving forces of famine at the local scale; social,demographic and economic situations were extremelyvariable. This variability shows that it does not makesense to pretend that there is a general, unique or ready-made description and explanation of the Sahelian crisis.My aim in this short paper is to present some elementswhich can help to make a more concrete and detailedvision of Sahelian diversity, and of the nature of thedynamics that are at play behind it. My arguments aretaken from a recent book, where they are substantiatedand referenced in detail (Raynaut, 1997).

2. The heterogeneity of the demographic situation

Of the social phenomena invoked to explain the envir-onmental problems occurring in Africa* and the Sahel

0959-3780/01/$ - see front matter ( 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.PII: S 0 9 5 9 - 3 7 8 0 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 4 1 - 8

Fig. 1. The combination of population density and demographic growth in the Western Sahel. Source: Raynaut (1997).

in particular * population density and an extremelyhigh demographic growth rate are the most often cited(Falloux, 1992; PontieH and Gaud, 1992). The relationbetween population density and environmental dynam-ics is still open to debate, but the relationship cannot beviewed as linear and mechanistic. At least two otherfactors determine the intensity of the stresses that asociety exerts on its environment. First, are the technicalconditions for the exploitation of natural resources. Sec-ond, is the proportion of production that is not destinedto meet the direct or indirect basic needs of the popula-tion, but is a response to opportunities and constraintsexternal to its social and physical reproductive needs:such as the introduction of new consumption goods,price #uctuations or the level of taxation. For example, inNiger in the late 1940s, the sale of 20 kg of millet couldpay the tax obligation for one person but, by the begin-ning of the 1970s, that person would need to sell 90 kg tomeet the same obligation (Raynaut, 1977b). Moreover,an increase in population not only translates into anincrease in demand but also into the availability of addi-tional labour * an expanded workforce that can bedevoted to intensive forms of exploitation, protectionand environmental management (see papers by Morti-more and Adams, 2001 and Cour, 2001).

This said, I must insist that, behind a general demog-raphic tendency towards high densities and rapidgrowth, the Sahelian zone presents enormous demog-raphic variability. To illustrate and sustain this assertion,Fig. 1 shows the diversity of demographic situations inthe western Sahel, that is, the many local combinations ofpopulation density and demographic growth. The dataused to draw this map are drawn from the nationalcensuses made between 1985 and 1988, to show the

average population growth rate over a ten-year periodproceeding the year of the census.

Among such great diversity, we can identify "ve par-ticular contrasting cases:

f A few `poles of attractiona where high density (morethan 20 persons per km2) combines with an annualgrowth rate of more than 3%.

f Some areas of `demographic saturationa, where highdensities are associated with a low growth rate, whichis the consequence of strong migratory movementsover long time periods.

f `Pioneer zonesa, at present sparsely populated, butwhere a high growth rate suggests that they receiveimmigrant populations at an accelerated pace.

f `Peripheral sectorsa which not only remain sparselyoccupied, but in which populations continue to in-crease only slowly.

f One last type of situation deserves attention. With lessthan "ve inhabitants per square kilometer, these zonesare sparsely populated and, in most cases, havea growth rate of only 0.5% per annum.

It is clear that each of these scenarios is speci"c tocertain localities and situations and that each raises dis-tinct problems in terms of the relation between localcommunities and their environment. These patterns ofpopulation distribution and evolution cannot be ex-plained by mere reference to the innate capacity of theenvironment to sustain human life (an &environmentaldeterminist' argument, as has been frequently applied tothe Sahel). It is not the areas with the least arid climateand the best soils that are the most populated. Settlementpatterns have much more to do with history* both longterm, and recent (Raynaut, 1997; pp. 63}69). During this

10 C. Raynaut / Global Environmental Change 11 (2001) 9}18

Fig. 2. Source regions or migrant labour and poles of attraction in West Africa. Source: Raynaut (1997).

century, building on a situation inherited from the past(especially the location of ancient kingdoms), three majorfactors have contributed to the shaping of settlement andterritorial relationships in Sahelian space, and have alsocontributed to the di!erences in demographic growthrates and migratory movements.

The "rst factor is large-scale geographical specialisa-tion, established in the colonial era and carried on afterindependence (Fig. 2). There is specialisation between(a) poles built upon commercial agriculture (like theSenegalese and Nigerian groundnut basins, and the cof-fee and cocoa plantations of the Ivory Coast and Ghana)which were located where the constraints of productionand the costs of commercialisation could be minimised;and (b) labour reserves where natural conditions and thedistance from commercial outlets made exportation oflabour towards the centres of production more pro"tablethan its local use (Colvin, 1981). The demographic voidwhich covers the far east of Senegal and the far WestMali, as well as the long lasting tradition of labour

migration from the Central (Mossi) Plateau in BurkinaFaso are, at least partly, consequences of this division ofroles.

The second factor that has contributed to the shapingof Sahelian demographics is the structure of the transportnetwork, which has been progressively developedthroughout the whole region during the twentieth cen-tury (Fig. 3). There is much to say about Fig. 3, butI would simply point to the void between tworoads/subnetworks: that of the extreme west (Senegaland Mauritania) and that of the centre and east (easternMali, Burkina Faso and Niger). This leaves a huge voidbetween Tambacounda and Bamako; an area which isalso sparsely populated. In contrast, the areas whichshow greater dynamism at present are those where theroad network has experienced rapid development sincethe 1960s.

The third factor is massive acceleration in urbangrowth during the last half of this century * witha dominant role played by metropolitan capitals and

C. Raynaut / Global Environmental Change 11 (2001) 9}18 11

Fig. 3. Growth of the transport network in the Western Sahel. Source: Raynaut (1997).

a limited number of other large cities (Fig. 4). The mapshows dramatic urban growth in Senegal, focusedaround Dakar, but it can also be observed in Bamako,Bobo Dioulasso, Niamey and several other minor cities.It seems that some of these urban poles have had a driv-ing e!ect on the demographic growth of the surroundingrural areas (Club du Sahel, 1995).

Each of the local situations identi"ed in Fig. 1 cannotbe analysed on the basis of a simple relation betweena certain demographic pressure and the `carrying capa-citya of the environment. It is the result of complexinteractions in which individual and collective strategiesseeking to build appropriate responses to a speci"c set ofnecessities and incentives play an essential role. Particu-lar technical, economic and social conditions of theexploitation and management of natural resourcesemerge in each of these speci"c contexts. These aretherefore the di!erentiated situations that structure andorientate the concrete local relations between populationand environment.

For example, despite very similar levels of populationdensity in the Central (Mossi) Plateau of Burkina and thegroundnut basin of central Niger, it is not possible toanalyse the relations between the society and nature inboth areas in the same terms. In the Mossi Plateau thereis a long-term history of migration towards the IvoryCoast * to the extent that local production is, in somecommunities, now a mere supplement to agriculturalpro"t-making activities conducted at a distance (Cordellet al., 1996). Within this context, village-level e!orts toimprove techniques and protect the local environmentare not always considered a major priority (Marchal,1983). In contrast, in central Niger, most of the farmers'labour force, their technical innovation, and their socialand economical interests have always been concentratedon farming (Raynaut, 1980). For a farmer in this region, itis vital to protect the environment and to preserve itsproduction capacity, in the face of the constraints ofoccasional drought and of a growing demographic pres-sure on resources. That is why more and more farmers


Fig. 4. Urban population growth in centres of more than 30,000 inhabitants. Source: reworked from Raynaut (1997).

try to reinvest their surplus labour force in more labour-consuming techniques of production and the manage-ment of the environment. In other words, they seek toturn the increase in the number of people into increasedlabour resources, in the same way as in the highly popu-lated Kano area of northern Nigeria (Mortimore, 1989;Mortimore and Adams, this issue). Two di!erent socio-historical situations can, thus, lead to two di!erent socialand environmental situations.

3. The diversity of land use conditions

The demographic issue * even reinterpreted in thelight of the socio-historical dynamics which underlie it* is clearly just one aspect of the diversity of the localsituations in the Sahel and of the complexity of currenttransformations in the relations between the local com-munities and the environment they exploit. The multipli-city of modes of land use in rural areas * herding,various forms of agriculture and other ways of exploitingnatural resources * is a major factor of variability(Fig. 5).

The "gure combines two categories of heterogeneity:the demographic zonation we have just brie#y analysed;and the spatial distribution of the main types of land use(for a more detailed description of the criteria used tobuild this typology, see Raynaut, 1997; Chapter 5). The

"rst axis of spatial discrimination is determined by thecrucial question of the relations between agriculture andpastoralism. Three main zones can be de"ned

1. A large region where pastoralism dominates. Agricul-ture can exist, but only in very localised situations,where surface or underground water is available.

2. A long and narrow belt, crossing the Sahel from eastto west, marking the zone where agriculture and pas-toralism meet. This area was formerly the exclusivedomain of pastoralism because the climatic risks weretoo great for agricultural production, unless absolute-ly necessary. But, since the early 1950s, this zone hasexperienced a progressive increase in cultivation as thedemand for agricultural land has risen. The confronta-tion of these two modes of resources use often gener-ates strong con#icts, reinforced by the e!ects of thedrought.

3. The entire southern and less arid zone is the privilegeddomain of agriculture, but this specialisation is farfrom exclusive. The area has, for a long time, receivedtranshuman pastoralists from the north and has shel-tered more or less sedentary agro-pastoralists whoselands interpenetrate with those of peasant villages.There is a long tradition of cohabitation, although thishas become more and more con#ict-ridden over time,as farmers have increased their demands for land, andhave increased their interest in herding, and as


Fig. 5. Land use and demographic zones in the Western Sahel. Source: Raynaut (1997).

pastoralists have withdrawn to this zone from the evermore severe environmental conditions in the north.

If we concentrate on this last zone, further distinctionscan be made. The "rst one contrasts areas devoted torain-fed agriculture with those where irrigated agricul-ture is practiced. At a still more detailed level, the area ofrain-fed agriculture can be subdivided into two majortypes of production systems: those mainly oriented to-wards subsistence and those mainly oriented towardscommercial production. The area of irrigation can alsobe divided into regions of traditional irrigated agriculture(essentially #ood recession agriculture) and those charac-terised mainly by modern hydro-agricultural schemes. Ofcourse, this categorisation is simplistic, with regard to allthe nuances and speci"city of actual farming and herdingsystems. But, even so, when combined with the Sahel'sdemographic heterogeneity, it vividly illustrates how dif-ferentiated and contrasting are the local combinations ofnatural, social, technical and economic characteristicsobserved throughout the Sahel. Clearly, we cannot ident-ify one Sahel but much more realistically, many Sahels* whether we do so as scientists, observers, or agents ofchange and development. Of course, Fig. 5, which isassembled from a combination of descriptive criteria,results in a static mosaic-type situations which do notgive account of the dynamics of interdependence andcomplementarity that exists between distinct localities. Itis possible, at a higher level of generalization, to identifylarger spatial units that are built upon such complexsystems of natural, social, demographic and economicrelations that have shared characteristics. But, even so,

the heterogeneity of the Sahel is marked. No less than 14regions can be thus identi"ed across the western Sahel.These include the `the high-density zone of Mali}Bur-kinaa, `the southern zones of expansiona and the`Nigerien groundnut basina (Raynaut, 1997, pp. 189}207).

4. The role of social dynamics and social actors

The vision that this brief survey o!ers of Saheliansocial and environmental dynamics is too simplistic toallow me to account fully for the level of diversi"cationand complexity in the social and cultural domains. I wishto highlight a particular aspect which is essential to anunderstanding of the local realities and to the elaborationof appropriate development actions. This is the fact that,within the Sahel as well as in the rest of Africa, anddespite the image of `traditiona often imposed from out-side to the continent, we are not dealing with a staticpattern but with an ongoing process of social andcultural change that exhibits powerful and con#ictingdynamics. Change is occurring at two main levels: "rstly,the structure and functioning of social systems andsecondly, the confrontation between local actors andeveryday strategies.

New debates are presently ongoing about the anthro-pological dimensions of environmental problems (Bier-sack, 1999; Brosius, 1999; Little, 1999). The Saheliancrisis is a perfect argument for adopting a multi-level andinterdisciplinary framework of analysis. No more thanany others, Sahelian societies are not simply passive orreactive toys in the face of the numerous constraints


imposed upon them by their natural, economic or politi-cal environment. They interact with that broader envi-ronment and, since not all societies are organised alongthe same lines or in the same ways, their points ofresistance and their potential weaknesses to internal andexternal in#uences are varied. Therefore, they respond indi!erent ways to the new challenges which confrontthem. `Adaptationa is a core notion that one current ofecological anthropology uses to analyse the interactionbetween local societies and their environment (Kottak,1999). It is a useful concept to analyse local situations.Nonetheless, as the Sahelian example demonstrates,adaptation should not be construed as a passive reactionto external factors: it is a process of innovation andcreation strongly related to the cultural and organisa-tional characteristics of social systems. In other words, itrelates to individuals' position or &room for manouver' inlarger social, political and economical spheres; and alsoto the confrontations they are involved in between socialactors.

In the Sahelian region, the diversity of the relationsbetween society and environment and the variability ofthe changes currently at play in this domain are thusstrongly related to social and cultural diversity. Althoughethnic classi"cation may seem to be a useful template toaccount for social and cultural discontinuities, a morein-depth analysis of the concept of ethnicity, and of thevalidity of ethnical classi"cations, shows that ethnicityis not always a good indicator of cultural diversity(Amselle, 1990). Frequently, West African ethnic groups"rst identi"ed by colonial administrators, geographersand anthropologists exhibit strong cultural and socialinternal heterogeneities (in terms of language, religion,family organization, etc.). Yet there are sometimes closerelations and similarities between ethnic groups labelledas &di!erent'. In many cases, the establishment of ano$cial ethnic nomenclature has rei"ed divisions thatwere nothing more than a transitory historical stagewithin a long-term political process of construction ofsocio-cultural entities, fuelled by complicated dynamicsof assimilation, fusion and domination (Raynaut, 1997).The fact that broad ethnic generalisations are now oftenused for making collective identity claims, and in politicalstruggles, must not mask the ambiguities of the ethnicityconcept. Elsewhere in Africa, Taylor's work on Rwandaanalyses the historical dynamics of emergence and politi-cal use of ethnical classi"cations, and he "nds these wereresponsible for the genocide that occurred in this countryin 1994 (Taylor, 1999).

This is not to say that all Sahelian societies and cul-tures are identical. On the contrary, they present evidentdi!erences which must be integrated within the analysisof diverse localities and, more speci"cally, of the relationsbetween local societies and their habitat. But, instead ofbasing our analytical tools on ethnic groups in order toisolate that by which each de"nes itself as against others,

one can use a synthetic model built upon a few axes ofdi!erentiation. By using this model, one can identify localcommunities with respect to some speci"c aspects of theirinternal organisation, and of their relationships with na-ture (this model is thoroughly developed in Raynaut,1997).

In brief, it uses three main axes of social and culturaldi!erentiation:

(a) The degree of centralisation of power: According towhich state societies, with a specialised central politi-cal apparatus, can be opposed to those where deci-sions are the product of a consensus between local,lineage segments.

(b) The importance of social distance: Which opposessocial systems with a strong hierarchy between in-herited social strata (i.e. aristocrats, warriors, crafts-men, slaves, etc.) to societies structure which is basedon the juxtaposition of social units of equal status(i.e., lineages, clans, villages etc.).

(c) The mode of circulation and distribution of goods andwealth: We refer here to the distinction between sys-tems where the individual accumulation of wealth isencouraged and those where circuits of exchange andreciprocity are mainly organised in order to preventit.

By combining these axes of di!erentiation, one canidentify various types of social systems, among which theemphasis can be put on three major patterns frequentlyencountered among Sahelian societies:

(a) The major trading states (including the Hausa ofNiger and Northern Nigeria) with a strong central-ised and specialised political apparatus; some degreeof individual mobility between hierarchical status;and open circulation and accumulation of wealththrough trade.

(b) Warrior aristocracies (including the Songhai-Djerma[Zarma] societies of Niger and Mali) where themarking of social distances is the strongest organis-ing principle, and where the accumulation of wealth* mainly through warfare and raiding * was lim-ited to those with higher status.

(c) Lineage-based peasantries (like the Serer of SeH neH galor the Senoufo of Mali) whose social organisationrests primarily on the coexistence of separate butequal lineage segments, where consensus is the domi-nant mechanism for decision making and where theaccumulation of wealth is strictly controlled.

These are reference patterns that can help order thediversity of concrete social formations observed on theground. None of the Sahelian societies is thoroughlyreducible to one of these models. Moreover, evolutionswhich occurred during the recent past have deeplyeroded some of their social and cultural characteristics.Nevertheless it is impossible to understand the diversity


of current social situations and collective behaviours inthe Sahel without taking into account the role of suchdi!erentiated socio-cultural patterns, since these stillgovern social, economical and technical practices. As wehave shown in detail elsewhere (Raynaut, 1997, Chapters10 and 11), landholding relations, modes of control of theworkforce, the social value attributed to labour, theposition of women in production activities, and eventechnical practices in agriculture or herding can varyaccording to the principles that govern social andeconomic organisation. For example, we cannot equate&agricultural' societies in which aristocracies perceivedfarming as a degrading task to be performed only byslaves, with peasant societies whose systems of values,symbolic representations and ritual practices are verymuch organised around agricultural activities. Withoutany doubt, each one of them is responding in a di!erentway to contemporary environmental challenges. Forexample, it is impossible to understand the rapid intensi-"cation of agricultural systems of production in SouthernMali during the past decades (which contrast with verydi!erent patterns in other regions of the country), with-out taking into account, among other factors, the specialvalue placed on agricultural activities by local Senoufoand Minianka farmers.

The di!erences in collective models and social habitusbetween social systems in the Western Sahel can bea pertinent explanatory factor for local social and envir-onmental situations. Nevertheless, there are also morecontemporary dynamics at play: those driven by theinteraction between the many institutions or individualsactors currently at work in the Sahel at various politicallevels. To simplify, I will highlight four categories of actors.

The State. The State * colonial and postcolonial* has played and still plays an essential role in theevolution of Sahelian societies and of their relations withnature. For example, through price "xing, taxation, andmany other direct and indirect forms of levy, vastamounts of wealth have been withdrawn from the ruralareas over several decades. This has contributed exten-sively to the destabilisation of the rural economy and ofthe social relations within rural communities and it isclearly one of the factors which has driven the Sahelian&crisis' (Raynaut, 1977a).

But, the State is also the source of development pol-icies, most visibly manifested in its concrete developmentoperations. While there is hardly a Sahelian region with-out its own &development project', not all developmentinitiatives have worked in the same way. They have beenconcentrated particularly in large zones devoted to com-mercial agriculture (the Senegalese groundnut basin orthe cotton area of southern Mali are good examples).Conversely, vast areas such as western Mali and easternNiger have been virtually ignored by the State, receivingonly scattered and intermittent attention. Moreover, dif-ferent technical or economic choices have been made and

operationalised here and there, with distinct e!ects onproduction systems and their impact on the environment.Everybody is aware of, for example, the dramatic ecologi-cal consequences that have resulted from some of thewell-digging campaigns within the pastoral zones(Dewispelaere, 1980). Elsewhere, agricultural developmentprojects, based on the &modernisation' of agriculturethrough the introduction of commercial cultivars (likecotton or groundnut) and of new technical inputs (likeanimal-drawn ploughs), may have had very negative localimpact on soil quality or productivity (Rochette, 1989).

Rural producers. Farmers and herders are, of course, themost important actors in the play. They are much morethan simple objects, passively submitting to the in#uenceof external driving forces. They develop their own strat-egies of response to the set of constraints and incentivesthey meet in the locality where they live and produce.

Their search for solutions covers at least three areas:1. The technical domain. The search for technical

solutions can involve short-term attempts to maintain aminimum level of production in more and more inaus-picious conditions: for example by increasing the culti-vated area, or cutting down trees to feed cattle (whichhas, of course, negative ecological e!ects). But it can alsoinvolve more elaborate e!orts to reorganise the manage-ment of resources, to look for new plant varieties, toinvent new techniques of production (drawing on theirown knowledge). Producers can also adopt modern toolsand inputs proposed by development programmes andadapt them to their own strategies (see Raynaut, 1997;Chapter 7).

2. The economic domain. Even if producers have toadapt to speci"c local conditions, they are also integratedinto a wider economic world and, through their partici-pation in the market, are subject to certain constraints(price #uctuations in particular) and have access to di!er-ent income-generating opportunities. The search forpro"t involves cost}bene"t calculations as part of a gen-eral strategy of adaptation. This can take the form ofa search for new market opportunities for produce, aswell as an engagement with wider labour markets.Farmers export their labour force towards the nearbycities, or to foreign African countries, even to an othercontinent in exchange for income.

3. The social domain. To properly understand the socialdynamics that are now at play in the Sahel, as well as theestablishment of new relationships with nature, we mustpicture Sahelian social systems, with all their di!erenceswe have pointed out above, in the midst of profoundchange which give space to new institutional and indi-vidual strategies. These are reconstructing social rela-tions themselves, as well as the relations between peopleand nature. With respect to the evolution of the socialconditions for the exploitation of natural resources, twomajor factors are particularly a!ected by these trans-formations.


First, there are land relations. The major phenomenonhere is the growth of the idea of appropriation, whichbrings with it notions of privatisation and individualisa-tion. Control over land becomes a key issue, resulting inprocesses of redistribution and accumulation. There hasbeen progressive integration of land into the market overtime (Raynaut, 1997; p. 256; IIED, 1999).

Second, there are labour relations. The major trendhere has been the emancipation of individual labour and,at least partially, his liberation from the traditional insti-tutional frameworks that guaranteed social control.Within the context of economic monetarisation,the emancipated portion of the workforce can enter themarket, detaching itself even more from the fabric oftraditional social relations.

The overall consequence of these changes isa profound reconstitution of the existing social systems.The means of production (including livestock and newtechnical inputs) are gradually becoming marketablecommodities to which access depends, not on one's socialposition, but on monetary transactions that may bedivorced from personal relationships. New hierarchiesare thus springing up. The gap is slowly wideningbetween a minority of producers, with some positiveprospect for the future, and those who cannot overcomethe obstacles confronting them. From this perspective,the continuing crisis in the Sahel have been overcomethrough a selection process whereby the most vulnerablego under, and the strongest take advantage of their loss.At the end of the day, the search for a new balance inthe relationship between societies and nature is inprocess, and it involves a profound recomposition ofsocial structures.

I would like to point out two other important actors inthe development and environmental play in the Sahel.Firstly, there are the urban speculators, who play anincreasing role in the control of livestock, in particular.Cattle owners with "xed revenues, often with quite stronglinks to the political arena, seek to invest in livestock andthey are in a better position to speculate than the tradi-tional pastoralist groups. These new livestock owners,who manage their herds through paid intermediary her-ders, are progressively capturing the best grazing areas.The movement of these herds, adhering strictly to com-mercial strategies, escapes the social and technical normsthrough which pastoral communities traditionally regu-late the exploitation of their environment (Boutrais,1992). The role of the urban speculators in the agricul-tural sector is perhaps less important, particularly be-cause agriculture in the Sahel is such a risk-prone activityand not always very pro"table. Buying and sellingagricultural products rather than direct engagement inproduction can make greater pro"ts. However, landaccumulation processes can be observed in some speci"csectors, for example around towns and on some hydro-agricultural schemes (Saul, 1988; IIED, 1999). The

responsibility for rural resource management thus nolonger falls exclusively on farming and herding commu-nities. It is shared by other kinds of partners, and increas-ingly by the urban speculators who maintain linkageswith the political class (Amselle and GreH goire, 1987).

The last category of actors that in#uences the environ-mental situation in the Sahel are the international devel-opment agencies. Development policies * the type ofstrategies adopted, the technical options chosen* have,for a long time, been subject to the "nancial in#uence andexpert input of donor agencies, both multilateral andbilateral. These bodies, therefore, also share responsibil-ity for the emergence of the present situation, a situationwhich is, in part, the consequence of the massive develop-ment projects of the 1960s and 1970s, and from 1975 untilthe mid-1980s, the meagre results of the grand campaignsagainst deserti"cation. These same donor agencies nowlie at the heart of current development approachesfocused at the community level, with priority givento NGOs and local associations. It is clear that theseagencies cannot remain on the touchline of the playing"eld. They are fully part of the game (Raynaut, 1991;Olivier de Sardan, 1995). Any attempt to seek newsolutions in the Sahel situation must rest on a clearunderstanding of their position and role.

5. Conclusions

It is not possible to provide a simple conclusion to thisattempt to paint a broad canvas of the diversity andcomplexity of the relationship between societies andnature in the Sahel. But I would like to draw somepractical lessons from the few facts and ideas I havepresented here.

1. The "rst is the necessity to abandon the dominantconception of development as an intervention intendedto introduce change into societies trapped in traditionsthat are responsible for their economic and materialstagnation. The Sahelian crisis is both the manifestationand the cause of profound social changes. The mainconsequence is that all interventions must start frome!orts made by local societies themselves to "nd answersto their own problems. The much called-for `participa-tiona in development must not only involve the partici-pation of the `populationsa in the projects that have beenproposed to them, but also, especially, the participationof the `developersa in the ongoing dynamics withinwhich their actions will necessarily be inscribed.

2. The second lesson is that natural resource use occurswithin a shared space, which is subject to diverse strat-egies of control and appropriation. Nothing can be gras-ped about the current crisis without consideration of therivalries that confront (and the alliances that unite) themany competitors and partners on the environmentalscene. The notion of negotiation is essential in the setting


up of `sustainablea relations between the di!erent typesof users and the environment.

3. A third lesson is that within each country, and evenmore so at the level of the Sahelian region, contrastsamong local situations are extreme. One of the mainchallenges is to manage this diversity. But we are notconfronted with a simple juxtaposition of irreducible andunique local realities. The mosaic re#ects complimentari-ties, inequalities and relations of dominance and depend-ence between zones. The challenge is to respond tospeci"c local problems, whilst also reasoning in largerterms: that of territorial management, of the readjust-ment of basic infrastructures and economic contexts, ofthe setting up development frameworks that allow com-munity and individual strategies to be carried out auton-omously.

4. Finally, I would like to insist on the role of the state.Con#ict management, arbitration between divergent in-terests and territorial development all require the actionof a state that is exercising its prerogatives to the full.Sahelian states have undoubtedly been predatory, oftenrepressive, and even violent. Yet, almost everywhere, yearin, year out, they have ful"lled some of the basic functionsof national government. More community participationin State decision-making is indeed essential; NGOs anddi!erent types of associations have an important role toplay in the invention of a new, more open developmentpath. Nevertheless, there are some core functions whichcorrespond to a level of intervention that only the Statecan achieve, especially when confronted with sucha changing, diversi"ed and potentially con#ictual set oflocal situations and competing partners. Negotiation isthe key. No negotiation is possible in the Sahel, or indeedanywhere, without the arbitration of con#icting interests.

Acknowledgements

The "gures are reproduced with permission fromRaynaut (1997) and except for Fig. 4 are ( StockholmEnvironmental Institute. Grateful thanks are due to PhilBradley and Charles Cheung for producing them. I wishto thank Simon Batterbury, not only for the work correc-tion and edition he did on the English manuscript of thistext, but also for the very valuable observations andinsights he provided on the substance of the paper itself.

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