Risk Returns

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One horn of the cow: an innovative GIS-based

surveillance and early warning system

in pastoral areas of Sahel

Frédéric Ham, Thierry Métais, Patricia Hoorelbeke, Erwann Fillol, Amador Gomez and Philippe Crahay,

Action Contre la Faim International

ain marks the beginning of the year for the pastoralists

in Sahel. This region is characterized by a short rainy

season taking place generally from July to October, and

a dry season the rest of the year. Pastoral livelihoods consist of

extensive breeding systems, in which mobility allows the best

use of available grazing and water sources and market oppor-

tunities. The rains determine the pasture and surface water

availability in pastoral areas throughout the year. These two

essential resources for pastoralists and their herds are replen-

ished during the rainy season and progressively depleted during

the dry season that follows. In Sahel, rainfall varies consider-

ably from one year to another and from one area to another, as

illustrated by the Touareg proverb:

‘In Sahel, rain falls on one

horn of the cow, but not the other’.

In such a context of high spatio-temporal rainfall and resources vari-

ability, the mobility of pastoralists is a crucial strategy. Mobility

is shaped too by others factors, such as markets, customary and

institutional access rules, diseases, security conditions

or conflicts.

Poor rainfall leads to pasture and water shortages

in Sahelian drylands, which negatively affect animal

production and can eventually result in the death of

livestock or entire herds. This in turn leads to dete-

rioration of the food and nutrition security of pastoral

populations, as they lose precious sources of nutritious

food, such as milk, and their main source of income.

The situation is particularly critical when large areas are

affected by droughts, when two successive low-quality

rainy seasons take place, or when mobility to areas with

more resources is restricted.

The Sahel region experienced large shifts in rainfall

patterns over recent decades, with severe consequences

for livelihoods. The droughts and famines during the

1970s and 1980s were associated with some of the

sharpest declines in rainfall in recorded history.

2045

Mobility allows the best use of available grazing, water sources and market opportunities

Source: ACF Niger