Impacts of drought and responses of rural populations in West Africa: a systematic review

Abstract

International audienceIn West Africa, climate variations and droughts have always affected livelihoods but have also triggered adaptation strategies. A better understanding of the impacts of drought and the responses of West African populations is indispensable for researchers and decision makers in the current and future context of multiple socioeconomic and environmental changes, including climate change. We conducted a systematic review of the literature on drought in West Africa. In this paper, we highlight controversial issues and identify knowledge gaps. Although drought has been widely considered as a major problem in West Africa, there is a need to frame it within a set of multiple threats faced by local populations and to understand how droughts act as a trigger in economic, societal, and environmental contexts. The literature on responses to drought focuses on agricultural and individual responses, while diversification, migration, and tree-based or livestock-based responses are less frequently addressed. More research is needed on the effectiveness and on the unexpected effects of responses of populations, states, and NGOs, as well as on the interactions between different responses. To understand the complexity of impacts and responses, the context in which they occur and how individual and collective actions interact within households or communities needs to be taken into account. Ecosystems and agriculture offer many goods and services that are suitable for adaptation and the different landscape components should be analyzed together. Such historical, contextual, and integrated analyses would better inform new policies and projects for adaptation to climate change

Genomic signatures of adaptation to Sahelian and Soudanian climates in sorghum landraces of Senegal

“…A selective sweep and associated SNPs colocalized with the staygreen locus Stg1/SbPIN4 in guinea sorghums, suggesting that this region may confer adaptation of some guinea accessions to the dry areas of Senegal. One possibility is that severe droughts starting in the 1970s (Gautier, Denis, & Locatelli, 2016;Mbow, Mertz, Diouf, Rasmussen, & Reenberg, 2008) have favored the introgression of stay-green drought tolerance alleles into some guinea landraces. One possibility is that severe droughts starting in the 1970s (Gautier, Denis, & Locatelli, 2016;Mbow, Mertz, Diouf, Rasmussen, & Reenberg, 2008) have favored the introgression of stay-green drought tolerance alleles into some guinea landraces.…”

“…The rare allele of SNP S3_57321183, which colocalized with SbPIN2, was found in a few guinea sorghums ( Figure S7b). One possibility is that severe droughts starting in the 1970s (Gautier, Denis, & Locatelli, 2016;Mbow, Mertz, Diouf, Rasmussen, & Reenberg, 2008) have favored the introgression of stay-green drought tolerance alleles into some guinea landraces.…”

“We Will Always Ask Ourselves the Question of How to Feed the Family”: Subsistence Farmers’ Perceptions on Adaptation to Climate Change in Burkina Faso

“…The exacerbation of pre-existing difficulties through CC is also evident through the sale of farm animals. In West Africa, farm animals were always sold as a reactive adaptive strategy to offset household emergencies such as illnesses and funeral costs [ 83 , 84 , 85 ]. Farmers today are selling essential farming animals not only as a result of crisis but as an anticipatory adaptation strategy, resulting in a cascade of difficulties in the coming season due to the loss of labor from field animals that were sold [ 84 , 86 ].…”

Women and climate change in the Sahel

“…The most well-known food crises occurred from 1969-74 and in the mid-1980s, most notably in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. In addition to the high human toll, this series of droughts contributed to a decrease in species diversification, tree density and plant coverage throughout the region (Epule et al, 2014;Gautier et al, 2016). These droughts also contributed to the drying of riverbeds feeding from Lake Chad and the decrease of its fish populations.…”