Temporality and the problem with singling out climate as a current driver of change in a small West African village

• Published in: Journal of arid environments 2010-04, Vol.74 (4), p.464-474
• Main Authors: Nielsen, J.Ø., Reenberg, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Burkina Faso; Climate change; Climatology. Bioclimatology. Climate change; decision making; drought; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; livelihood; Livelihood diversification; Meteorology; perceptions (cognitive); political-economic factors; rural areas; rural economics; Sahel; socio-economic factors; sustainable development; Synecology; temporal variation; Temporality; Terrestrial ecosystems; villages
• ISSN: 0140-1963; 1095-922X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.09.019

Concern about climate and its impact on human populations in the Sahel since the 1970s was an immediate response to the most recent of recurrent drought periods. Understanding the relative impact of this drought on rural life in the Sahel is, however, not straightforward. This is due to the fact that climate is only one of many factors influencing local adaptation strategies to environmental changes. Another explanation could be that climate in many rural communities in the Sahel is simply no longer the primary worry. The argument presented in this paper, supported by data from a small village in northern Burkina Faso, is that the villagers there are ‘beyond climate’ as their current livelihood strategies are increasingly climate independent. People have over the past decades engaged in livelihood diversification in order to negate the negative impact of climate variability on agriculture. In order to analyse the temporal perspective of climate–livelihood interaction, the paper employs human–environmental timelines. The results document the multiplicity of exposures shaping decisions in the village. While significant correlation exists between recent livelihood diversifications and major climatic events, it is equally obvious that recent political developments and the economic flow of project activities are crucial factors of change.