REFORMING THE GLOBAL EFFORT TO REDUCE THE EXPANSION OF DRY LAND IN THE WEST AFRICA SAHEL'S VULNERABLE ZONE

Research proposal for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Sustainable Development and Diplomacy
at EUCLID University

Reforming international effort to reduce the expansion of dried land in the ECOWAS Sahel’s vulnerable zone.

Francois Phopho KAMANO

          

1.       Abstract

The expansion of dried lands has been swallowing the West Africa’s Sahel Vulnerable Zone and presenting a very fragile future for people and the biodiversity.

The transformation of forest in dry lands has been largely attributed to the rising need for agricultural land especially around the fridges of dry areas. ( Bernard N. Kigom, 2003)

It is widely accepted that the overall degradation of the environment and the continued drought in the region is caused by a high demand for natural resources such as arable land, forest wood, and water.

In the previous time serious attention was not given, because its expansion was very slow and was therefore ignored. This careless attitude has led today to a serious environmental degradation and the severe impact on local community livelihood around the world but with very severe impact in West Africa and especially in the Sahel’s Vulnerable Zone.

Continuing to neglect the drylands will not only leave hundreds of thousands of people in extreme poverty, but will also lead to escalating violence. It is clear that the need to address drylands is now and that the cost of continually neglecting the drylands is grave. (Belay Begashaw 16, September 2010)

The West African Sahel region remained fragmented geographically, economically, socially and many countries within the region are plagued by the spread of dried lands, climate change impact and environmental degradation.

Among the global dryland regions, the Sahelian zone in West Africa has received significant attention, not least because of the extreme poverty and frequent serious drought incidents that this region has been exposed to since the major catastrophe in the early 1970s. ¹

 

¹(Insistent Dryland Narratives:Portraits of Knowledge about Human-Environmental Interactions in Sahelia Environment Policy Documents by Anette REENBERG)

The West African Sahel region is going under man-made severe drought which is accelerating the desertification, climate change and environmental degradation, affecting local community livelihood and making life so difficult for both human and biodiversity.

These environmental problems like climate change, desertification, wildlife habitat destruction soil erosion, landslide and natural disaster etc. have been negatively impacting the livelihood of the local community especially the women in many part of the region.

The role of wetlands and other natural resources for the livelihood and economic development in the West Africa’s Sahel region cannot be over emphasized. Unfortunately, most of the wetlands in the Sahel’s vulnerable zone are gradually becoming dried land through human-environmental interaction.

Researchers studying the Sahel today focus on the regions' continued economic fragility, its halting steps towards democratic political regimes, and its continued food security problems. Despite complex economic migration patterns and urban expansion in the 20th century, the vast majority of the region's rural dwellers are dependent on some form of rain-fed agriculture or animal production. Some suggest that there are no "normal" rainfall levels in this region; just fluctuating supplies and changing human demand for water

Sahelian droughts and their effects have been studied intensively since the 1970s, as part of the international response to "environmental emergency". It is only in the last ten years, however, that the long-term impacts of the famines of the 1970s have become evident.²

Facing the thorny reality described above, we are therefore asking this question for our research: << To which stand and at which level do we need to reform the intervention of international Relief and development organization in the ECOWAS Sahel vulnerable zone in order to reduce the continued expansion of dried land? >>

To answer temporarily this research question, we are putting forward the following hypothesis:

<< In spite of the considerable resolved displayed by the joint partnership of United  Nations Environmental Program,  CILSS, World Bank , Birdlife International, ECOWAS and its Partners to resolve environmental concern,   the Sahel Vulnerable Zone is still facing serious environmental degradation: desertification of wetlands, loss of soil fertility, wildlife extinction etc. >>

² Simon BATTERBURRY (May1998) shorter version is in The Geographical (London)

This study therefore aims to collect and analyze the lessons learnt from most of the traditional organizations combatting desertification, promoting nature conservation and wildlife protection in the region from different angles, to further push research to know the missing gap that is still not addressed and as result of that the problems seem to be unsolved.

A field trip was carried out in the Oursi village and at the Lake, in Burkina Faso to use the community around the lake as a first sample of our study and the results indicate that that the NGOs intervention to save the Oursi lake started around 1970 but the lake is still drying up permanently and especially in the dry season and as a result of that, the life or human and animals is seriously affected.

It is very rare to see regular rainy seasons like before, last year we experienced only one serious rain in the month of August, it was on one of the Thursdays in that particular month. Said Oumarou Issa , the leader of the Oursi Site Support group.

We were therefore told that climate change is threatening the local community and that seasonal rains have become very rare and the droughts is becoming more harmful and more frequent.

The research will move forward current researches around the drying up of wetlands, the impact of man-made climate change and the challenges faced by international organizations in the implementation of environmental protection programs and projects in the West Africa’s Sahel region.

 It will also attempt to provide material from which, can learn in planning, managing and evaluating future sustainable wetland management, livelihood and food security projects.

This research is crucial because it will draw the attention of the organizations implementing the environmental protection programs in the region that there is always a need to pause and analyze joint effort and build a common lessons learnt manual to be share globally within the network to avoid facing the same challenges faced by other similar organization.

By the end of the research it is expected to produce a manual combining all the lessons learnt from various organization working in the region and will be a guide for any organization trying to solve the environmental issues in West Africa through its program or partnership.

2.       Methodology

One of the greatest challenges in researching lessons learnt about dried land, is the lack of available quantitative and qualitative data, due to the fact that many organization hardly take a break to document the lessons learnt from the project being implemented challenges, along with low statistical capacity. However, taking these greatest challenges into account, when carrying out the research, we will adopt the classic research method which combined both consultation of existing documents, reviewing recent literature relating to our research area, desk reviews, academic publications, factsheets, project reports, field rapport, newspapers on environmental degradation, wildlife extinction, Nature conservation, and add to that, the personal interview from informed individuals in some cases via personal correspondance, observation and survey on the field, the use internet are going to be another source of information. 

So, this research method will allow us to structure our thesis in chapters focused on the issues as follow:

1- GENERAL PRESENTATION OF WEST AFRICA SAHEL’S VULNERABLE ZONE

This chapter will expose the Geographical, Economical and Social appearance of ECOWAS Sahel’s vulnerable zone.

2- ASSESSMENT OF THE VARIOUS INTERVENTIONS OF INTERNATIONAL AND HUMANITARIAN ORGANISATIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN WEST AFRICA 

The chapter is devoted to assess the different assistances at all levels from West Africa’s friends and partners for environmental protection.

It will assess the progress made so fare in solving the issues of dried land extension, climate change adaptation and mitigation, environmental education, nature restoration, Sustainable Development and will further explain the difficulties and challenges faced by its partners in meeting the Millennium Development Goals Number 7 and 8. 

3- NEW CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES 

Chapter 3, based on the appreciation made and the collection of lessons learnt , will develop new Perspectives, Strategies to address the real problems of environmental degradation and fill the missing gap in reducing dried land expansion in the west African Vulnerable Sahel Zone with a general conclusion. 

3.       Literature review

While desertification was a long-standing problem even in the absence of droughts, the gradually increasing vulnerability of the land made the impact of the inevitable droughts worse than ever (Dahl and Hjort, 1979).

Dryland regions make up roughly 43% of the earth’s surface. In Africa alone, it’s over 60%, but despite this, decision-makers have generally neglected development of these regions. One of the main reasons is that drylands are assumed to be wastelands, with little potential, and in need of constant supplies of food aid. (Mwende Mwendwa, September 16, 2010)

FIELD TRIP EVIDENCE FOR DATA COLLECTION