This article explores the role of Mbororo women in climate change adaptation in Cameroon’s North-West region. Despite their marginalization due to patriarchal traditions, these indigenous women have developed resilient agro-pastoral strategies such as small-scale livestock farming, dairy production, pasture cultivation, and income diversification. Using an ecofeminist framework, the study shows that women possess ecological knowledge systems passed across generations, including weather prediction and traditional veterinary practices. While facing barriers such as discrimination, limited access to land, education, and credit, their contribution to sustainable livelihoods is substantial. The author calls for greater recognition of indigenous knowledge and enhanced inclusion of women in climate adaptation policies.

Pastoralism, Women, Discrimination

This study aims to understand the vulnerability of livestock farming in the urban commune of Filingué, Niger, to environmental changes. A total of 240 household heads were surveyed across eight selected villages. Findings reveal that pastoralists perceive climate change through increased temperatures (24% of respondents), prolonged droughts (58%), and more frequent violent winds (18%). These factors negatively impact pastoral activities, making livestock farming highly vulnerable. Adaptation strategies include transhumance (25%), purchasing livestock feed (22%), destocking animals (15%), and forage storage (15%). During critical periods, 23% of pastoralists use a mixture of bran and millet glumes or cardboard to feed their livestock. These indigenous strategies require support to enhance their effectiveness.

Pastoralism, Climate change, Vulnerability

The article titled “Forging Identity at Gunpoint: Violence and the Land Question in Mali” by Ibrahima Poudiougou and Giovanni Zanoletti, published in 2020 in the Revue internationale des études du développement, examines how violence has become a tool of public policy in Mali, especially in land-related conflicts. The authors focus on the deadly clash between the villages of Mougna and Kossouma on June 25, 2016, which resulted in about twenty deaths and forty injuries. Although jihadists were not directly involved, the event illustrates the increasing militarization of land disputes since the 2012 rebellion. The article explores how ethnic and religious narratives—especially references to “jihadism”—are used to frame these disputes. Ultimately, the study reveals how rural institutions and state authority are being challenged through violent reconfigurations of identity and power.

Pastoralism, Conflict, REAL ESTATE, Political identity

The Pastoral Surveillance Bulletin for Niger (No. 61, Dec. 2024 - Jan. 2025) provides a generally positive assessment of the pastoral situation. Pasture is widely available thanks to good rainfall, while bushfires have decreased compared to the previous period. Surface water remains sufficient in most sites, and livestock body condition is considered good to fair. However, several suspected cases of animal diseases (sheep pox, foot-and-mouth disease, etc.) have been recorded, although these have been brought under control by veterinary services. There has also been a slight increase in livestock thefts. Markets are open, with good availability of livestock feed. Livestock and grain prices are rising, but terms of trade have improved, favoring pastoralists. The bulletin recommends continued vaccination, awareness-raising, and monitoring of pastoral resources.

Pastoralism, Livestock, Food security, Marché, Transhumance

The Pastoral Surveillance Bulletin for Burkina Faso (December 2024 - January 2025) analyzes the agropastoral situation in seven regions of the country. It highlights generally sufficient but declining fodder availability, stable livestock prices, and falling grain prices due to export restrictions. However, terms of trade remain unfavorable for pastoralists. The report notes livestock movements to Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, driven by insecurity and the search for resources. Animal health is generally stable, although suspected disease outbreaks have been noted. The surveillance is based on data collected via 51 sentinel sites and satellite observations. Finally, bushfires, cattle thefts, and conflicts are still associated with mobility and access to resources.

State, Agriculture, Pastoralism, Boundary, Livestock, Natural ressources, Security, Education, Food security, Gold, Human security, Soicial sciences, Marché

The Covid-19 pandemic has heightened tensions between herders and farmers in the Sahel. Prior to the health crisis, fodder shortages in Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, and Niger had already weakened pastoral activities. Conflicts in areas like Liptako-Gourma (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger) and the Lake Chad Basin (Niger, Nigeria, Chad) led to the closure of livestock markets and restricted access to grazing lands. With the pandemic, border closures disrupted the return of transhumant animals, resulting in a high concentration of livestock in border areas, increasing the risks of animal diseases and conflicts with farmers. These mobility restrictions also caused meat prices to rise in urban areas and undermined pastoralists' livelihoods due to the suspension of weekly markets.

Agriculture, Pastoralism, Conflict, Food insecurity

The article “Pastoralism and Security in West Africa and the Sahel” examines the causes of pastoralism-related conflicts in six countries: Mauritania, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria. It highlights the importance of pastoralism in these nations, while noting that the scale and dynamics of conflicts vary across national contexts. State policies and local practices toward different elevations also differ. The study recommends raising awareness of land laws, encouraging land rotation between farmers and herders, increasing investment in the livestock and agriculture sectors, and protecting local vegetation. It emphasizes the need for sustainable and inclusive solutions, both at the national and regional levels, to resolve these conflicts.

Pastoralism, Security, Conflict

The lack of pasture space in the Ferlo is nowadays the major concern of herders and various development actors in the sylvopastoral zone. It appears to be the main (re)known symptom, almost habitual, of the cyclical crises affecting pastoralism in Senegal. On the face of it, this situation can be interpreted as a banal ‘tragedy of the commons’, characterised by a significant increase in pressure on the resource, which is itself poorly managed since it belongs to everyone, and whose regeneration is furthermore hampered by both natural (climatic disruption) and anthropogenic (overgrazing, progression of the agricultural front) factors. However, in this situation as in others, the tragedy of the commons is a flawed, even simplistic, interpretative scheme, focusing mainly on the effects of animal demography and community management of grazing land, which are considered to be deleterious. A more detailed analysis of the various factors involved in this "grazing crisis" and the observation of the adaptive strategies of the farmers and the responses proposed by the differents organisations (ngos etc.) supporting the sector (fodder crops, food supplements in particular) lead to the formulation of other hypotheses: the fodder shortage might be the inevitable but underestimated consequence of a long series of interventions in the field of pastoral water supply. Also this crisis might reflect the exhaustion of the entire pastoral breeding model and the beginnings of a profound (and perhaps radical) transformation whose prospects remain uncertain. Rather than a tragedy with an inescapable end, should it not be seen as a turning point for the Ferlo and for pastoralist farming as it exists in the present conditions?

Pastoralism, Livestock, Crisis

The article "Environment and Diseases in the Sahel (West Africa). Between Two Worlds" examines the interaction between environmental conditions and disease prevalence in the Sahel region. It highlights that the Sahel, located between the Saharan and Sudanese climates, is a convergence zone for various epidemics. Diseases vary according to the seasons and the lifestyles of the populations: nomadic pastoralists and sedentary farmers are not affected in the same way. For example, the "lean cow" period for pastoralists, corresponding to the end of the dry season, differs from the "empty granaries" period for farmers. This complex dynamic between environment and public health makes disease management particularly difficult in this region.

Agriculture, Pastoralism, Climate change, Health