Resource information
Context Pastoralism obeys logics that are sometimes misunderstood by public decision-makers and that are at the origin of many interventions that are often inappropriate. The controversial effects of pastoral public policies are accentuated by several exogenous and endogenous hazards. In Senegal, particularly in the Ferlo area, populations are developing endogenous strategies to cope with this situation.Goals of the workThis work proposes to analyse the perceptions of pastoralists on the phenomena that threaten the practice of pastoralism as well as their perceived impacts on their way of life. Based on a qualitative approach, this study also attempts to identify the prospective visions of pastoralists, articulated around proposals for models of governance of pastoral spaces and resources.MethodologyThe data were collected using a qualitative approach. Thirty-two (32) interviews with resource persons and ten focus groups were conducted. In addition to these interviews, data collected during participatory workshops on pastoralism in the Ferlo region carried out by CIRAD (Centre Internationale de Recherche Agricole pour le Développement), the Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis (UGB) and the NGO Enda Pronat (Enda-Protection de la Nature) were also mobilised and collected using a participatory tool (TerriStoriesTM) developed by CIRAD (d'Aquino and Bah, 2014, d'Aquino, 2014). ResultsThe results show that pastoralists do not have a homogeneous perception/representation of climate change. Depending on the area and the issues at stake, the effects of climate change mentioned by pastoralists vary. In order to adapt to the new realities, practices appear as responses to the threats resulting from the progressive establishment of intensive hydro-agricultural activities along Lake Guiers. The increasing scarcity of water and grass cover also calls into question the logic of pastoralism and the sustainability of the activity. In addition, the current state approach, in which agriculture seems to have priority in terms of access to land in a perspective of agricultural intensification with a geometric and cadastral vision of the territory, is perceived as a real threat. It must be said that this vision is opposed to the representations based on a fluid conception of the territory of pastoralists who think of land in relation to the resources they carry. Faced with the threats of agriculture, the pastoralists of the Ferlo adopt offensive strategies that are mostly expressed through investment in agriculture in conjunction with livestock farming. Pastoralists are also investing in national networks for the defence of the rights of rural populations and are raising the issue of livestock farming separately from that of agriculture. This contributes to the construction of a land identity among pastoralists.
