Forest law enforcement, governance and trade in the Sahel. Vol 1 (6).

In the Sahel, ecosystems such as open forests, plantations, parklands, savannah and steppe formations supply a wide range of goods and services for rural communities as well as to the development of local and national economies. In this region, forestry and agroforestry systems have frequently been disrupted by changes in land use, particularly over the last 20 to 30 years, together with a succession of drought years and considerable population growth. A common underlying cause of degradation in dry forests is lack of secure tenure rights to these resources by local communities, which creates little incentive for local people to manage the forests on a sustainable basis.