Pastoral livestock herding has long been blamed for contributing to
environmental degradation1 and especially to biodiversity loss. Is this criticism
warranted given that pastoralism is still—and has long been—a key economic
activity in Sahelian-Saharan Africa? Preconceived ideas or reality? These
questions are addressed hereafter…

(1) Steinfeld H. et al. 2006. Livestock’s long shadow: environmental issues and options. FAO, Rome, 390 p.

This agroforestry-based three-storied cropping system accounts for the so-called ‘oasis effect’, i.e. creation of a microclimate conducive to agriculture. Date palms filter sunlight, while serving as a windbreak for the understorey crops and helping maintain soil moisture, which in turn reduces the air temperature. This multistoried cropping system also enhances the root distribution in the soil as well as plant uptake of available resources, including water. Ecologically intensive oasis agriculture is often associated with extensive livestock farming on vast rangelands—a combined mixed cropping- livestock farming system that enhances soil fertility. From the outset, oasis systems are intimately based on agrobiodiversity. Oases therefore have a diversified agricultural heritage. Morocco, for instance, hosts 453 date palm cultivars and over 2,300 natural hybrids, Tunisia (...)