Sahelian Pathways: Climate and Society in Central and South Mali Bruijn, M.E
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Sahelian pathways: climate and society in Central and South Mali Bruijn, M.E. de; Kaag, M.M.A.; Til, A. van; Dijk, J.W.M. van Citation Bruijn, M. E. de, Kaag, M. M. A., Til, A. van, & Dijk, J. W. M. van. (2005). Sahelian pathways: climate and society in Central and South Mali. Leiden: African Studies Centre. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3018 Version: Not Applicable (or Unknown) License: Leiden University Non-exclusive license Downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3018 Note: To cite this publication please use the final published version (if applicable). Sahelian pathways African Studies Centre Research Report 78 / 2005 Sahelian pathways Climate and society in Central and South Mali Editors Mirjam de Bruijn Han van Dijk Mayke Kaag Kiky van Til Published by: African Studies Centre P.O. Box 9555 2300 RB Leiden Tel: +31 (0)71 527 33 72 Fax: +31 (0)71 527 33 44 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.ascleiden.nl ISBN 90 5448 063 7 Printed by: PrintPartners Ipskamp B.V., Enschede © African Studies Centre, Leiden, 2005 Contents List of annexes vi List of maps vi List of figures vi List of tables vii 1. INTRODUCTION: CLIMATE AND SOCIETY IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH MALI 1 Mirjam de Bruijn & Han van Dijk 2. CLIMATIC, ECOLOGICAL AND HUMAN INFLUENCES ON THE VEGETATION OF THE HAYRE-SEENO AREA 16 Yvonne M. de Boer 3. THE DOGON HEARTLAND: RURAL TRANSFORMATIONS ON THE BANDIAGARA ESCARPMENT 40 Walter van Beek 4. COPING STRATEGIES OF DOGON CULTIVATORS OF THE NORTHERN ESCARPMENT 71 Aline Brandts 5. MILLET CULTIVATION AND CLIMATE VARIABILITY IN WAYRE, A DOGON VILLAGE ON THE NORTHERN SEENO 95 Pieter Maas 6. COPING STRATEGIES OF THE RIIMAYBE IN DEBERE (DOUENTZA DISTRICT) 127 Selma Griep PHOTOS 7. THE CARAVAN TRADE OF CEREALS AND SALT: NOMADS AND FARMERS CONNECTED 147 Mark Rutgers van der Loeff v 8. DOUENTZA. THE DYNAMICS OF A RURAL CENTRE IN THE SEMI-ARID SAHEL 168 Renate Zondag 9. MIGRATORY DRIFT OF DOGON FARMERS TO SOUTHERN MALI (KOUTIALA) 190 Karin Nijenhuis 10. MOVEMENTS IN A NEW WORLD: FULBE MOBILITY AND SURVIVAL IN SOUTHERN MALI (KOUTIALA) 216 Josée van Steenbrugge 11. MOVING PEOPLE: PATHWAYS OF FULBE PASTORALISTS IN THE HAYRE- SEENO AREA, CENTRAL MALI 247 Mirjam de Bruijn & Han van Dijk References 281 vi List of annexes 2.1 Tree and herb names observed in plot (X) 38 List of maps 1.1 The location of the research area for the case studies in this volume 4 7.1 Salt mines in the West African Sahara and the main trade routes for salt 153 7.2 Trade routes of cereals and salt in Central Mali 156 List of figures 1.1 The decision-making unit in relation to the physical and institutional environment 10 1.2 The evolution of pathways through time 10 2.1 Annual rainfall and 11-year moving average of rainfall, Douentza 23 2.2 Monthly rainfall for dry (1991), mediate (2000), wet (1994) and mean (1991-2000), Douentza 23 2.3 Proportion (%) of each functional plant group on different soils (clay, sand) and time 26 2.4 Productivity of the herbal layer 26 2.5 Plant features depending on soil characteristics 27 5.1 Members of Seidou’s ourodou and their kinship relations 98 5.2 The fields in Seidou Ongoiba's ourodou 100 5.3 Members of Amadou Dem’s ourodou and their kinship ties 102 5.4 The fields in Amadou Dem’s ourodou 103 5.5 The five members of Oumar Gienté’s ourodou 105 5.6 The fields of Oumar’s ourodou 106 8.1 Sample of respondents 169 10.1 Overview of the Sankare family 218 11.1 Annual precipitation in Douentza 249 11.2 The 11-year average of precipitation in Douentza 250 vii List of tables 2.1 Mean and standard deviation grouped per factor: soil, cultivation and grazing 25 2.2 Common species found on clay and in sandy soils 25 2.3 Spearman’s correlation test: Results for October (3) 27 2.4 Tree viability 29 5.1 The characteristics of the fields in Seidou Ongoiba’s ourodou 101 5.2 Number of animals in Seidou Ongoiba’s ourodou at the end of the 1998 rainy season 101 5.3 The characteristics of Amadou Dem’s fields 103 5.4 Number of animals in Amadou’s ourodou at the end of the 1998 rainy season 104 5.5 The characteristics of the fields in Oumar’s ourodou 106 5.6 Number of animals in Oumar’s ourodou at the end of the 1998 rainy season 106 5.7 Summary of the differences between the three ourodous 107 5.8 Fines imposed on stray animals during the rainy season 110 5.9 Hydraulic resources in the Kerana rural community 113 5.10 Characteristics of three millet varieties 116 7.1 Millet prices in Koro, Douentza and Timbuktu, June 2000 - February 2001 150 7.2 Millet transported by caravans passing Douentza in tons per month 151 7.3 Volume of millet output in Mali for several years 151 7.4 Average price for a goat, for 100 kg of millet, and the millet equivalent for several markets in Central Mali for December 2000 153 7.5 Cross millet equivalents for various market towns in the Timbuktu and Douentza region in December 2000 154 8.1 Population of Douentza according to the 1996 census 175 9.1 Population of M’Péresso, according to ethnic composition (1986-2001) 196 9.2 Population of Finkoloni, according to ethnic composition (1976-2001) 196 9.3 Number of families living in hamlets on the territories of Finkoloni and M’Péresso, according to ethnicity (2001) 198 11.1 Primary production (PP) and carrying capacity (CC) of pastures in the research area for various years 249 11.2 Expected quantity and quality since 1980 249 viii 1 Introduction: Climate and society in Central and South Mali Mirjam de Bruijn & Han van Dijk Instability, drought and local-level responses Following the droughts, economic decline and political unrest that have marked much of the recent past in the semi-arid zones of West Africa, an enormous amount of research has been done to better understand and counter the problems associated with these phenomena. Initially, local rural (and urban) people were depicted mainly as vulnerable victims who were unwillingly undermining the basis of their existence by overexploiting scarce natural resources, thus causing the desert to advance and pushing the poor to the cities. It was stressed that, due to scarcity, people were coming into conflict over distribution and access to resources and this was causing local clashes, ethnic conflicts and civil wars. All this was compounded by a lack of well-targeted policies to counter these tenden- cies, corrupt governments and well-intended but poorly designed development efforts by bilateral and international donors. In the course of time, however, alternative views on the inhabitants of Africa’s drylands have developed. One of the most important changes in this respect has been that they have been given back their ‘capacity to act’. There has been in- creasing attention for local actors who have constantly accommodated adverse conditions and have creatively developed new ways of responding to changes and hazards. This has been manifest in the growing attention given to local 1 2 knowledge and decision-making. In addition, there has been a lot more recogni- tion of the rationality of what people do in adverse conditions and for the fact that their decisions cannot be only leading to their ruin or to a further deteriora- tion in their living conditions. Global climate change will certainly impose new constraints and open up fresh possibilities for the inhabitants of the Sahel. However, the scale and direction of these changes cannot be fixed with precision at the moment (Van den Born et al. 2000). Yet research on the consequences of global climate change is crucial in order to provide knowledge to help tackle any problems resulting from this evo- lution. One of the most important questions in this respect is how people survive in high-risk environments, and how they secure their livelihood in the medium and long term. What factors do these local actors take into account when making decisions with respect to production strategies, resource management, the insur- ance of risks and the economic and social care needed in times of calamity? How is the reality of this daily life linked to short and medium-term changes in eco- logical and socio-economic environments at local, regional and national levels? What effect does such instability of climatic conditions have on day-to-day deci- sion-making and what might the impact of climate change be? Impact of climate change on drylands These questions were among those underlying the research project ‘Impact of Climate Change on Drylands’ (ICCD) that was carried out from 1996-2000 within the ‘Dutch National Research Programme on Global Air Pollution and Climate Change’ (see Dietz et al. 2001a). This project focused on an analysis of the effects of climate change and rainfall variability on drought risk and yield potentials in semi-arid and sub-humid West Africa, the development of a com- prehensive framework for the analysis of regional scale impacts, and the identifi- cation of different risk-coping strategies at farm, household and individual level (Dietz et al. 2001a: 1). A number of Dutch and African research institutes par- ticipated in the project (see Appendix 1). Since neither the direction nor the dimension of climate change could be established with any precision at the start of the project, it was decided that it would be most efficient to focus on climate variability rather than climate change.