ABSTRACT
The question of sustainability lies at the heart of debates about development and conservation practice in the Sahelian region of West Africa. This chapter reviews common misunderstandings of human-and-environment relationships in the Sahel and how these in turn have shaped environmental assessment/management practices in the region. It explores the importance of changing social relations and their effect on the relationship between people and their environment. Sustainability ideas and efforts have led to few positive effects on Sahelian landscapes and the people who inhabit them. The region has been in part reshaped by environmental protection programs that reflect the preconceptions and interests of outsiders' more than Sahelian realities. Sahelian people make a living in one of the harshest and most variable climates in the world. In this risky environment, people diversify their livelihood activities through cropping, livestock husbandry, and labor migration.
