Transformation and shifts in production landscapes for livelihood improvements in the Sahel: building a partnership in research
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Environment
Abstract
The agro-ecosystems of the semi-arid West Africa provide the livelihoods for some of the most poor and vulnerable people in the world. Within this low-productivity area 'islands' of successful land management has shown there are untapped opportunities to upgrade the livelihoods of people in these enviroenments and out-scale these farming systems. However, little is understood at present about how such improvements in the farming system productivity will effect on-and off-farm ecosystem resources. This proposal aims to begin developing a partnership to address this knowledge gap and take the first steps to identifiying how changes to the farming systems in these regions will effect the wider environment. In this proposed project a research partnership will be established between the Centre for Ecology, Law and Policy (CELP), University of York, (UK), Centre Régional d'Enseignement Spécialisé en Agriculture(CRESA), University of Niamey, (Niger), The Institut de l'Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA) (Burkina Faso), the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York, (UK), the Stockholm Resilience Centre (Stockholm University, Sweden) and Centre for International Cooperation (Vrije University, the Netherlands). The aim of the project is to build a longer term partnership around joint research studying the opportunities and effects on overall landscape productivity and ecosystem services through the upgrading of Sahelian agro-ecosystems. Can farmers' livelihoods improve in a sustainable way, accounting for both on and off-farm ecosystem resources, functions and services? Why has there been a trend of 'greening' in farming systems in some areas of Sahel but not others? The project activities in this initial 12-month period will be on a) strengthening of the partnership through mutual knowledge exchange through small joint research initiatives, and b) the development of a 3-year research proposal allowing the partnership to investigate effectively the proposed research theme. Key outcomes of this proposal will be: - Joint publications based on pilot studies in selected pilot areas of Niger and/or Burkina Faso - Development of a full 3 year research partnership proposal - Mutual learning focussed around the potential of participatory GIS for assessing livelihood dependancies in agro-eco systems - A number of joint student projects which will be co-supervised by different partnersips within the project team
Organisations
Publications
Barron J
(2010)
Coping with Rainfall Variability: Dry Spell Mitigation and Implication on Landscape Water Balances in Small-scale Farming Systems in Semi-arid Niger
in International Journal of Water Resources Development
| Description | Two groups of aims were set out for this research grant. The first aims related to the establishment of a partnership of researchers to investigate the production landscapes of the Sahel. A very strong partnership between researchers in the following institutions has been established: Centre for Ecology, Law and Policy University of York, Centre Régional d'Enseignement Spécialisé en Agriculture, University of Abdou Moumouni (Niger), Niamey, The Institut de l'Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (Burkina Faso), Stockholm Environment Institute at University of York, and Stockholm Resilience Centre (Stockholm University) and Centre for International Cooperation (Vrije University). Indeed, additional partners participated in the project including the University of Ouagadougou, Institut national de rechere agronomique du Niger (INRAN) and Africa Forestry Network (AFF)/ICRAF. The aim of the partnership was to develop a longer term research agenda and a strategy for accessing appropriate funding to support this agenda. Although the NERC ESPA call that these aims were developed for was not made during the period of the project, the partners have accessed research funding from a number of alternative sources. It is hope that this experience will help the partnership in developing a strong proposal for the ESPA call. The additional sources have been: Stockholm Resilience Centre/Stockholm University and University of Abdou Moumouni Sida funded (SWE) with a value of SEK 4 million for 2010-2013 (Stockholm Environment Institute at University of York is unfunded partner); University of Vrije with INERA, Burkina Faso, University of Newcastle, Stockholm University , ICRAF, University of KwaZulu Natal, Sokoine University of Agricultural Sciences, proposal for EU FP7 Water harvesting in Sub-Sahara Africa (approved 1st June 2010), value of Eu 2 million for 2011-2013; Challenge Programme Water for Food in Volta Basin (Phase II): Stockholm Environment Institute invited for commissioned research proposal with INERA and University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, submitted 28 May 2010, value USD 700,000 for 2011-2013. The second set of aims was focused upon implementing an initial joint research activity in selected pilot areas estimating initial livelihood dependency on ecosystems services both on-farm and off-farm in production landscapes. Through coordination with the activities of a Stockholm Resilience Centre project the achievement of these aims was enhanced. 4 field sites rather than 2 were investigated through 12 MSc students rather than 4 (1 UK, 5 Sweden, 1 Burkina Faso, 5 Niger). A distributed hydrological model has been set up for the greater basin of two of the field research sites to evaluate potential impacts of various levels of re-greening. A publications has resulted from this work. A joint training workshop in Participatory GIS for livelihood and ecosystems assessment was held in Ouagadougou with 11 participants from national research institutes and universities in Niger and Burkina Faso (with 2 additional African research participants). The methodologies introduced have now been used by participants in follow-on research activities in Burkina Faso both in the ESPA grant and other research projects. The grant has therefore left in place a partnership of researchers actively taking forward this research in the Sahel. |
| Exploitation Route | Capacity built in-country during the project will be taken forward by researchers in the partner countries. Findings of analyses performed during the project have been used to inform a number of projects that SEIY have subsequently been engaged in. Many of these are captured in the published paper |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment,Other |