The Crisis of Sahelian Pastoralism Ecological or Economic

Pastoralismis the dominant system of production and way of life for people in the Gourma region of Mali. Pastoralismhas, however, been in deep crisis for decades. As elsewhere in Sahel, this crisis hits the subsistence economy, which is centred on animal productionassociated with cereal cropping and harvesting of natural products. It also affects the social, political and cultural life of the Sahelian peoples. The population of the Gourma region has been decreasing since the 1960s, in marked contrast to rural and urban populations further south in the country (Figure 1). This trend reflects the depth and duration of the pastoralcrisis. Changes in the livestock population have probably been even larger, but are not so well documented. The few data that are available are either dubious estimates,