Survival in the Sahel is the joint product of European, African, and American theorists and practitioners from a broad range of disciplines. Without this interdisciplinary collaboration it would not have been possible to illustrate how complex and interrelated the environmental and developmental problems of the Sahel really are. The book grew out of the idea that there had to be a way to bring a seed-research development project in Cinzana, Mali, into a broader context. This would help illustrate the limitations of local efforts and the need for an integrated and collaborative approach to development. The famines that have plagued the people of the Sahel during the last 25 years have deeply moved the world.
Many people wish to understand the reasons for the immeasurable human suffering in the region.
Indeed, there is an obligation to inform the public of the complexity not only of the problems but also of the solutions involving the environment and development in the Sahel. For this reason, in spite of the somewhat scientific approach taken here, we have attempted to address readers who have no particular prior knowledge of the subject. Survival in the Sahel aims to present an easily understandable overview of the problems that confront the people of the Sahel. We do not claim to have treated the issue exhaustively or even sufficiently. For the sake of brevity, many important topics could be discussed only succinctly.