Unpacking Decades of Multi-Scale Events and Environment-Based Development in the Senegalese Sahel: Lessons and Perspectives for the Future

Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD)—UPR 105 Forêts et Sociétés, CEDEX 5, 34398 Montpellier, France

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)—IRL 3189 “Environnement, Santé, Sociétés”, 13015 Marseille, France/Université de Bamako, Mali/CNRST Burkina-Faso, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal

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Université Assane Seck, B.P: 523, Ziguinchor 27000, Senegal

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Stockholm Resilience Center (SRC), Stockholm University, 104 05 Stockholm, Sweden

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editors: Tomasz Noszczyk and Abreham Berta Aneseyee

Land 2021, 10(7), 755; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10070755

Received: 23 June 2021 / Revised: 9 July 2021 / Accepted: 14 July 2021 / Published: 19 July 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Socio-Economic, Environmental, and Political Aspects of Rational Management and Land Use/Cover around the World)

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Abstract

A major challenge faced by human societies is to promote development that truly makes difference for people without jeopardizing their environment. This is particularly urgent in developing countries where, despite decades of development programs, local populations often live under poverty thresholds. With this study, we participate in the ongoing debate about the necessary global revision of development theory and practice in the rural Sahel. We retrace the development trajectories in the Ferlo, the northern silvopastoral zone of Senegal. We highlight how development has evolved from the 1940s to the present, from centralized development action programs focused on hydraulic infrastructure to current polycentric development with growing environmental concerns. We highlight multi-scale events that have influenced the successive development paradigms in the area. Focusing on the past thirty years, we analyzed twenty-five environment and natural resource management-oriented projects, describing the evolution of their objectives and actions over time and identifying recurring flaws: redundancy, lack of synergy, and questionable relevance to local needs We put forth that a more resilient thinking-based development paradigm is necessary to guide the growing number of environment-oriented development actions, including the African Great Green Wall, for which massive investments are ongoing throughout Ferlo and across the Sahel. View Full-Text

Keywords: Senegal; Ferlo; Green Wall; development; environment

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Mazzero, H.; Perrotton, A.; Ka, A.; Goffner, D. Unpacking Decades of Multi-Scale Events and Environment-Based Development in the Senegalese Sahel: Lessons and Perspectives for the Future. Land 2021, 10, 755. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10070755

AMA Style

Mazzero H, Perrotton A, Ka A, Goffner D. Unpacking Decades of Multi-Scale Events and Environment-Based Development in the Senegalese Sahel: Lessons and Perspectives for the Future. Land. 2021; 10(7):755. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10070755

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mazzero, Hugo, Arthur Perrotton, Abdou Ka, and Deborah Goffner. 2021. "Unpacking Decades of Multi-Scale Events and Environment-Based Development in the Senegalese Sahel: Lessons and Perspectives for the Future" Land 10, no. 7: 755. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10070755

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Unpacking Decades of Multi-Scale Events and Environment-Based Development in the Senegalese Sahel: Lessons and Perspectives for the Future

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