Livelihood Security: Climate change, conflict and migration in - UNEP

Box 1 . Forest-based livelihoods
Many people in the region depend on forest
resources to supplement their main livelihood
of farming, herding or fishing. While forestbased
livelihoods are not discussed in depth
in this report, it is important to highlight the key
role that forests play in the countries at hand.
Fuelwood, including charcoal, is the main
source of energy in the region. In West Africa,
it is estimated that fuelwood makes up 85 per
cent of total energy consumption. 56 Forests
also support livestock during the dry season
by providing woody fodder, which is high in
water content. 57
Non-wood forest products also are critical for
livelihoods and food security. According to the
FAO, dependence on forest products generally
increases when agricultural production is
low, during droughts or other natural disasters.
Food products such as fruits, roots, leaves, and
bushmeat are traded and consumed at the
local level. 58 Medicinal plants are also traded
in both rural and urban markets. More than
80 per cent of the population in Burkina Faso,
Ghana, Niger, and Nigeria depend on the use
of medicinal plants. 59 Finally, other non-wood
forest products are increasingly being traded
at the international level, including shea butter,
rattan and gum Arabic. 60
Livelihood Security: Climate Change, Migration and Conflict in the Sahel
Finally, “hybrid” livelihoods strategies combining
farming and livestock rearing have increasingly
been adopted as a means of mitigating climaterelated
uncertainties, 63 undermining the traditional
complementarity and interdependency between
farmers and herders, and increasing competition
for suitable land.
Complementing initiatives for decentralization,
an increasing number of policies have formally
recognized pastoralists’ rights to key resources. For
example, in 1993, Niger adopted the Rural Code,
which stipulated that pastoralists had priority rights
to use natural resources in designated pastoral
zones. 64 Pastoral laws have also been implemented
in Guinea (1995), Mauritania (2000), 65 Mali (2001)
and Burkina Faso (2003). However, while provisions
to support pastoralism are an improvement on past
policies, implementing legislation that is not sensitive
to changes in climate and resource availability
can hinder pastoralists from effectively adapting to
the extremely unpredictable Sahelian environment.
These issues have been further compounded by
the highly sectoral approach that is generally taken
to manage natural resources, which has resulted
in competition and confusion between differing
government institutions and failed to account for
multiple uses of the land by livelihood groups such
as agro-pastoralists. 66 Lastly, national land policies
and reforms have also largely failed to take into
account transboundary or regional dimensions of
land and natural resource management, such as
Populations across the region remain highly dependent on fuelwood for their household energy needs. In Burkina
Faso, hundreds of carts and trucks piled high with wood travel throughout the night from areas outside of the
capital Ouagadougou to reach the markets by morning
© UNEP/Bessma Mourad
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