ABSTRACT
This chapter examines land use development in the pastoral zone of West Africa in terms of the relevance and impact of overgrazing. It provides a theoretical framework for looking at "the tragedy of the commons" as it applies to overgrazing. Most livestock raising in the pastoral zones or Africa is done under conditions in which the land is used in common by numerous herders. The fundamental logic of a group restricting its livestock numbers to the carrying capacity of its own ranch and, in turn, benefiting from the grazing that it has been able to preserve is thus subverted. The authority of elected committees is too often negligible when it comes to the critical questions of control over livestock numbers, ownership, and grazing. Except around watering points and marketing trails, there is little direct evidence of extensive rangeland degradation due to overgrazing in Mali and Niger; in some cases heavy grazing may have improved the rangeland.
