and Niger. The mandate of ECOWAS is to promote economic integration among member states, which includes livestock production.A year after the formation of ECOWAS, the Club du Sahel was formed by the Sahelian West African countries. This was expanded in 2001 to involve all West African countries, including Mauritania, Cameroon and Chad, under the new name Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC). The purpose of this expansion was to take advantage of the interdependence and complementarities between the landlocked Sahelian countries and the coastal countries in the subregion (SWAC-OECD/ECOWAS 2008). In effect, this review covers pastoral activities in all the 15 West African countries in addition to Cameroon, Chad and Mauritania (Figure 1).Transhumance pastoralism involves the production of various livestock, such as cattle, sheep, goats, camels, donkeys and horses, whereby the animals are herded from one place to another seasonally in search of feed and water for their sustenance, while escaping extreme temperatures, diseases and pests (Samuels et al. 2008). The natural resources provide a wide diversity of herbaceous (grasses, sedges and forbs) and woody plants (shrubs and trees) that serve as feed for the animals as well as water found in natural and manmade reservoirs. In view of the seasonal fluctuation of forage and water availability over varying spatial scales within and between host countries, cross-border grazing of these animals also becomes necessary to exploit the natural resources. To institutionalise cross-border grazing, ECOWAS saw the need to formulate policies to regulate livestock movements across borders to ensure peaceful cohabitation among member countries and to promote livestock production in the subregion. This review sought to understand: (1) the importance of transhumance pastoralism in West Africa; (2) whether the ECOWAS

Fodder tree leaves (FTL) are limitless nutrient resources that provide high-quality feed, particularly during the dry season, improving animal diets, and reducing the use of concentrates in ruminant livestock farming. In order to determine the benefits of FTL, two experiments were conducted to measure the voluntary feed intake (VFI), growth performance, and nitrogen utilization of forest type (FT) sheep fed rice straw (RS) and supplemented with either Leucaena leucocephala (LEU) or Samanea saman (SAM) or their equal combination (LS). For the growth trial (Experiment 1), 12 male FT sheep with mean initial body weight (BW) of 17.0 ± 1.0 kg (mean ± SD) were randomly assigned to one of four dietary treatments in a Completely Randomized Design. The diets were Urea-treated RS (UTS) (Control), RS + L (LEU), RS + S (SAM), and RS + 50% L + 50% S (LS). After 14 days of adjustment period, feed intakes and refusals were recorded daily whereas BW was recorded bi-weekly for 12 weeks. Four rams weighing 17.0 ± 1.0 kg BW, were randomly assigned to the four treatments over a four period in a repeated (4 × 4) Latin square design to estimate the nitrogen (N) balance study (Experiment 2). Treatment diets were the same as that of Experiment 1. Dry matter intake of straw was highest (P = 0.0001) for sheep fed UTS. However, combining L with S increased (P = 0.0001) straw DM intake compared to feeding L or S alone. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in total feed intake between sheep offered UTS and LS, but both were significantly higher (P = 0.0001) than those offered LEU and SAM. Body weight gain (3.70 kg) and growth rate (196.15 g/d) were highest (P = 0.0001) for sheep offered LS compared to the other treatment groups. Values for N balance differed (P = 0.0001) among treatment diets. N balance for LUE and LS supplemented diets were higher than that of SAM but all were higher (P = 0.0001) than those offered UTS. Leucaena and/ Samanea leaves could, therefore, be utilized as supplement to poor quality straws to improve the productivity of small ruminants especially during the long dry seasons in the tropics.

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Climate change is a principal threat to the sustainability of our planet which consists partly of the world’s rangelands. According to numerous studies and reports, the trend at which the global climate is changing is a clear indication that the long term sustainability of global rangelands is uncertain. There is abundant evidence of climate change across the globe. The global average surface temperature is predicted to increase between 1.8°C and 4.0°C by 2100. This will no doubt have adverse and tremendous impact on the quality and productivity of rangelands, which in turn is expected to affect ruminant livestock production since about 70 % of forages fed on by animals are produced from these rangelands. The current climate change is basically as a result of anthropogenic activities leading to a build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These gases are trapped in the atmosphere and in return increase global surface temperature and alter known climatic patterns globally. This review, therefore, highlights the effect of climate change on rangeland quality and productivity considering how the drivers of climate change impact on the length of the growing period, plant species composition, nutritional value of forages, drought stress in plants, lignification, vegetation flammability and mortality/extinction of range plant and animal species. The review revealed that, climate change will result into the extinction of over one million terrestrial species in the next five decades. The elevation of CO2 levels will increase non-structural carbohydrate content of grasses by 25 % and reduce their nitrogen content by about 8 %. It is also reported that, for every 1 % rise in temperature, there will be 0.4 % rise in Neutral Detergent Fibre decreasing forage intake and digestibility. Rising temperature also results in faster decomposition of soil organic matter. However, minerals will be lost through leaching and erosion if mineral uptake by rangeland plant species is slower than the rate of mineral release into the soil. It is clear that changing climate is having a toll on rangeland quality and productivity, the impact is mixed and difficult to quantify. It is recommended that, much research efforts be put into quantification of climate change impacts on rangelands through modelling and projections simplified for the comprehension of the resource poor livestock farmers particularly in developing countries. Vulnerable rural based livestock farmers should be assisted with adaptation strategies to remain in production. Key words: Composition of plant species, drought stress, nutritional value, plant mortality