The Sahel Region
CE397 – Transboundary Water Resources
February 7th, 2008
Virginia Smith
The Region:
The Sahel region is an eco-climate zone located on the southern edge of the Sahara
desert. The region spans across Nigeria, Sudan, Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina
Faso, Niger, and Chad (Ethiopia and Somalia are sometimes included in the Sahel
region). The name, Sahel, comes from the Arabic work for “border” or “margin”. The
region gained this name because it serves as the southern border to the Sahara. It is the
transitional zone between the dessert and the more tropical south central Africa. Figure
one gives shows the geographic location of the region.
Figure 1: The Sahel region of Africa
The countries of the region are similar in climate, land cover and economy. The Sahel is
covered with brush, grasses, and stunted trees. The dominant industries are based in
agriculture and herding livestock, much of which depends on rainfall. The Sahel region
experiences strong year-to-year variations in climate. The rainfall varies from 200mm to
600mm a year. Over the past century the annual precipitation has decreased. Most of the
rain occurs during three to four months of summer.
The rain has decreased, but the number of people depending on it has increased. In the
past 35 years the Sahel has experienced rapid growth in population. In 1961 the Sahel
was home to approximately nineteen million people. By 2000 this had exploded to 50
million. The population boom has resulted in an expansion of agricultural lands and
grazing lands for livestock.
Water Resources:
As mentioned above, the Sahel is subject to infrequent precipitation, ranging from
200mm to 600mm a year. Most of this rain falls in the summer during the movement of
the intertropical convergence zone. This meteorological event results in a monsoon type
pattern. Some years this can result in a fair amount of rain; however, it maybe isolated to
one area or is so intense in magnitude that it hurts crops rather than helps them.
Most of the area depends on rain as their water source. However, over the past few years
the number of wells and irrigation systems has increased. Many of these projects are the
results of foreign aid. During the late 1960s the Sahel began to experience a drought that
would last until the early 1980s. The impacts from the drought resulted in over a million
deaths in the region. As a result, disaster relief aid poured in from the international
community. Much of the money donated to mitigate the drought was invested in water
resource projects. The projects took the form of dams, irrigation canals and wells.
Unfortunately, the challenges of the Sahelian environment made it difficult for many of
these projects to succeed.
Problems Facing the Sahel:
Water Resources Management- While the water projects of the 1980’s and 1990’s had
the best intentions in many cases the results were not beneficial. Irrigation systems and
reservoirs that were built were still unable to endure the Sahelian droughts, served as a
breading ground for disease carrying insects such as the tse tse fly, and interrupted
natural flow patterns. Bore holes and wells dug in unsuitable areas for livestock and
agriculture contributed to desertification. The great increases in wells lead to larger herds
and over grazing of the land. As more and more land became agricultural few trees
where left on the Sahelian horizon impacting both soil quality and runoff. Additionally,
the change in land cover has resulted in an alteration of the land surface albedo. This is
believed to be contributing further to change in the region’s climate (particularly,
precipitation).
Desertification- In the past 50 years the Sahara has advanced south into the Sahel at a rate
of two to five kilometers per year. During the past century the fragile ecosystem of the
Sahel region has been unable to sustain its vegetation. Over grazing from livestock, the
adoption of western farming practices and pour management of water resources have
contributed to desertification of the area. These factors have limited the regions ability to
recover from extreme drought events.
Resource Management
In 1973 the nations of the Sahel region formed an alliance to combat the severe drought
impacting their nations. The union was named the Comite Permanent Inter-Etats de Lutte
Contre la Secheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS). The purpose of CILSS is to “invest into the
research for food security and in the fight against the effects of drought and
desertification in order to achieve a new ecological equilibrium” in the region. The
alliance has ratificated of three major international conventions: the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
(UNCCD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC). In addition to the proactive approach of these conventions, the international
community has aided these countries in recovering from the severe impacts of drought.
While working to united regional efforts, countries have also made independent strategic
plans to combat the water related issues. More can be read about these plans in the
report, Climate Change and Variability in the Sahel Region.
Required Reading:
Pages 1- 15: Kandji, Serigne T., Louis Verchot, and Jens Mackensen. Climate Change
and Variability in the Sahel Region: Impacts and Adaptation Strategies in the
Agricultural Sector. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP). UNEP, 2006. 1-48.
Can be found at:
http://www.unep.org/Themes/Freshwater/Documents/pdf/ClimateChangeSah
elCombine.pdf
Supplemental Reading:
Batterbury, Simon. "The Sahel Region; Assessing Process Twenty-Five Years After the
Great Drought." The Geographical (1998): 6. 31 Jan. 2008
<www.simonbatterbury.net/pubs/geomag.htm>.
Cotula, Lorenzo. Land and Water Rights in the Sahel: Tenure Challenges of Improving
Access to Water for Agriculture. Sida and FAO. London, UK. 1-98.
Li, K Y., M T. Coe, N Ramankutty, and R De Jong. "Modeling the Hydrological Impact
of Land-Use Change in West Africa." Journal of Hydrology 337 (2207): 258-268.
Mulford, M R. "Government, Population and Ecology in the Sahel: a Study in Disaster."
(1994): 1-12. 4 Feb. 2008 <www.frontier.net/~mmulford/sahel.htm>.
"Sahel." Wikipedia. 03 Feb. 2008. 4 Feb. 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahel>