A region wide assessment of land system resilience and climate robustness in the agricultural frontline of Sahel (LaSyRe-Sahel)

project summary

This project will look at the triple exposure of local livelihood strategies and food provision to climate change, population pressure and globalization in agricultural frontline of Sahel. The research will: a) go beyond ‘established myths’ about change in land use by documenting recent trends in field encroachment/contraction, and biological productivity and b) document the mechanisms of coping and livelihood adaptation strategies which have made agro-pastoral systems sustainable in regions affected by climatic variability. It will combine Earth Observation, meta-studies, and field surveys to document changes in land use and land cover and investigate plausible links between regional patterns of land use systems and perceived drives of land use change (e.g. climate, population pressure, market access, ethnics, environmental resources, tenure rules). It will produce new insight in the structure and functioning of land use systems in the desert fringe by drawing of theoretical lines of thought from the land change science, vulnerability and resilience research communities. The research activities aim at strengthening collaboration between researchers from Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Denmark at senior level as well as in terms of PhD and master education. It will produce outcome that can serve as a useful knowledge platform for development strategies under changing scenarios for climate conditions and increasing competition for land for food and other purposes.