The document discusses water and soil conservation practices in the Sahel region of Africa and their potential to increase the resilience of rural livelihoods. It notes that the Sahel is vulnerable to climate change and land degradation due to population growth, poverty, and political/institutional conditions. Water and soil conservation techniques like terracing, trenches, and dams can help increase water infiltration and availability, improve ecosystems, and diversify livelihoods. Specifically, water spreading weirs buffer floodwaters and improve downstream areas for agriculture, vegetation growth, and local communities. The document recommends long-term, landscape-scale projects with flexible, participatory planning to achieve significant resilience impacts.

1. Water and soil conservation practices in the Sahel.
Analysing their potential to increase the resilience of
rural livelihoods
Anneke TRUX, GIZ
© GIZ / Trux © GIZ / Wohlmann © Bender
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2. The presentation is based on the paper
Water and soil conservation practices in the Sahel. Analysing their potential to increase the
resilience of rural livelihoods.
authored by Ackermann, K.; Nill, D.; Schöning, A.: Trux, A.: Van den Akker, E.; Wegner, M.
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3. Vulnerbility and resilience
Vulnerability
- Climate change: pressure to destabilized livelihoods
- Drylands: particularly vulnerable
- Livilyhoods depend on natural resources
- Poverty
Adaptive Capacity - unfavorable political and institutional conditions
Resilience
- Focus must be on strengthening adaptive capactity of vulnerable housholds
- Holistic framework of resilience
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4. Main factors determining the resilience of rural livelihoods in the Sahel
Population growth
- Growth 2.5% annually for past 60 years (1950: 186 Mio – 2010: 856 Mio) (UNEP 2012)
- Most of Sahel > 3 % p.a (2050: expected population of Africa 2 Billion)
Land degradation
- Soils: fragile, poor in plant nutrients, prone to erosion
- Lack of spatial planning, traditional strategies of natural resource management no more viable
Climate and Climate Change
- Strong climate variations in Sahel and irregular rainfall between 200 and 600 mm as biggest
obstacle for assuring food security
- Future Climate projections for Sahel > warming of 0.2°C to 0.5°C per decade > greatest
warming in interior of Sahel > higher evapotranspiration > arid conditions exacerbated
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5. Main factors determining the resilience of rural livelihoods in the Sahel
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6. German development cooperation in Sahel
- Since 1980s development and implementation of
SWC-approaches in the Sahel
- Rural development projects in Niger, Burkina
Faso, Chad and Mauritania; providing knowledge
about SWC-technologies
- helped protecting huge landscapes against
desertification
- Accompanied by „local conventions‟ in order to
prevent conflicts
- SWC-measures supported by social transfer
systems
© GIZ/Klaus Wohlmann
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7. Main land improvement techniques
Improvement of plateaux
Semi-circular bunds; Nardi/Vallerani trenches
Contour bunds
Firebreaks
Improvement of slopes
hand-dug trenches
permeable rock dams
Dune stabilisation
Improvement of pediments
Contour stone bunds; Permeable rock dikes
Zai planting pits
Use of organic matter: manure and compost; Mulching
Assisted natural regeneration
Improvement of valley bottoms
Water-spreading weirs
Small-scale dams ; Village irrigation schemes
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8. How Soil and water conservation (SWC) / Soil protection and restoration
(SPR) impact on resilience
Improving water management
- Run-off of rainwater is slowed down or stopped
o distribution of water over wider areas
o increasing infiltration of water into ground
o infiltrated water stored in soil or recharges water table (rise by up to several meters)
© GIZ/ Dieter Nill
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9. How Soil and water conservation (SWC) / Soil protection and restoration
(SPR) impact on resilience
Improving ecosystem services
- Erosion control
- Rehabilitated landscapes are used for agriculture, grazing and forestry
Mai 2009 Mai 2010 Mai 2011 Mai 2012
July 2009 July 2010 July 2011 July 2012 © GIZ/Bartholdi
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10. How Soil and water conservation (SWC) / Soil protection and restoration
(SPR) impact on resilience
Improving livelihoods
- Increased yields, better pasture, more
fuelwood
- livelihood systems get more diversified
and household incomes increases and
households are more resilient
© GIZ/Klaus Wohlmann
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11. Focus: Water spreading weirs
- Water spreading weirs as technology for rehabilitation
of degraded inland valleys (since late 1990s)
© Heinz Bender
Source: Bender (2011)
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12. Water spreading weirs help greening semi-arid landscapes
Source: PRODABO in BCI, 2011
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13. Water spreading weirs: Integral part of watershed management
Source: PRODABO in BCI, 2011
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14. SWC/SPR: Impacts
- Water spreading weirs buffer peak runoffs from drainage basins, reduce erosion and improve
availability of water for people, livestock, agriculture and nature
- Ecological improvement of alluvial plains protects against changes in environmental
conditions and stabilises food supply and living conditions of local population
- Water spreading weirs therefore are effective measures for adapting to climate change
o Lower vulnerability
o Diversification of livelihoods
o Food security
o Increased income- reduced migration
o Rehabilitation of degraded land
o Increased groundwater level
© Bender
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15. Economics
- Average costs per weir: 20.000 to 50.000 Euros
- Construction costs of a weir are between 600 and 1500 Euros per ha improved land
- So far, in Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad, more than 370 weirs cover an improved
cultivation area of more than 20.000 ha benefitting more than 40.000 households
(Wegner 2013)
- Costs of rehabilitation likely to be recovered
by additional harvest of one year
© Bender
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16. Recommendations
For achieving significant impact on, resilience to climate change, livelihood and
ecosystems services SWC/SPR
Think big:
o Long-term commitment needed for implementation of measures over a wide area
(watershed) and achievement of significant impacts not just on individual plots (several
generations)
o Adopt a landscape approach based on spatial analyses and planning for up-scaling
Site-specific planning:
o No „one-size-fits-all‟ technical solution > need to determine most suitable
measures according to topographical units /land uses
o diagnostic assessment of watershed with participation of all different users
o shows and helps to prevent potential conflicts over land tenure and conflicting
interests over certain areas or strategic natural resources
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17. Recommendations (2)
Farmers decide:
o For adoption on large scale, mix of techniques must be flexible, adaptable and testable by
farmers under their specific social, economic and environmental conditions
o Participatory planning reduces costs and enhances sustainability
o Promotion of experience exchange and trainings on a farmer-to-famer base is needed
Diversity counts
o Combine techniques and approaches addressing individual households AND community
interests
o Address SWC as well as regeneration of natural resources
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18. Recommendations (3)
Sustained national effort is key
o for supporting community organisation
o for integration of SWC into a broader land improvement framework
o For secure land tenure arrangements
Talk about money: Upscaling SWR/SPR needs resources
o international financial support is needed to complement national and local efforts
But talk about also success factors
o Upscaling SWC/SPR has to be based on long term commitment and embedded in long-
term measures needed to address root causes of vulnerability
o Technical, social, economical conditions
o Monitoring of impact of agro-ecological system across wealth groups and different types of
household economy (Gubbles, 2011)
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19. Thank you very much for your attention.
Merci beaucoup pour votre attention.
Muchas gracias por su atención.
Большое спасибо за ваше внимание
非常感谢你的关注
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