Information and modeling system of pastoral vulnerability for crisis management and prevention in the Sahel

Abstract

Pastoral livestock herding in the Sahel is extremely sensitive to climatic irregularities and particularly to the quality of the rainy season that conditions the regrowth of pastures and the filling of water points. Nomadic and transhumant herders adapt their movement strategies to the state and availability of these resources. Tools for monitoring food security in these pastoral territories must therefore integrate, in addition to spatialized biomass data, information on pastoral movements and the factors influencing them. To support local warning systems in the Sahel, the non-governmental organization Action against Hunger proposes a pastoral vulnerability model based on real-time satellite data and on knowledge of pastoral practices. This model is used to process data into an early warning system by identifying pastoral resource-deficient areas several months before a potentially problematic tide-over season. The combination of this data with concomitant field information collected by sentinel relays enables monitoring pastoral conditions, thus contributing to infrastructure development or the deployment of humanitarian aid.