The effects of the climate crisis, new technologies, and land grabs have altered the livelihoods and prospects of villagers living in Central Mali. Join us for an online event on Wednesday, 17 June to discuss how people survive and thrive in the uncertain and risk-prone Sahel, through the findings of a long-term study on the village of Dlonguebougou.
In the last 35 years Dlonguebougou, a rural community in the drylands of central Mali, has experienced significant social, economic and environmental change. The effects of the climate crisis, new technologies, and land grabs have altered the fortunes of individuals and families living in the community, prompting new investments for some and migration to town for others.
Camilla Toulmin has studied long-term change in the Malian Sahel since the early 1980s, examining the transformations to land use, people, and livelihoods in Dlonguebougou. Toulmin’s book Land, Investment, and Migration, Thirty-five Years of Village Life in Mali brings together her findings to tell the story of a changing community.
This event on Wednesday, 17 June 2020, the UN World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, will explore the findings from this study and reflect on the drivers of change.
Among the questions the webinar will explore are:
- How do the people of Dlonguebougou survive and thrive in the uncertain and risk-prone Sahel?
- What can we learn from this and other long-term studies about how lives change over generations?
- How have pressures of land affected patterns of farming and land use?
- What shifts in people’s values and attitudes have impacted on household organisation and social resilience?
- What messages from this study would bring more sustainable landscapes and livelihoods for Sahelian people, especially given the worsening conflict across the region?
About the speakers
Camilla Toulmin is an economist with particular expertise on dryland Africa, and is a former director of IIED.
Bara Guèye is a rural economist, with more than 35 years of experience of development practice in Francophone West Africa.
Professor Nicholas Stern is the chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and head of the India Observatory at the London School of Economics.