Temporality and the problem with singling out climate as a current driver of change in a small West African village Export

@article{citeulike:6080387, abstract = {Concern about climate and its impact on human populations in the Sahel since the 1970s was an immediate response to the most recent of recurrent drought periods. Understanding the relative impact of this drought on rural life in the Sahel is, however, not straightforward. This is due to the fact that climate is only one of many factors influencing local adaptation strategies to environmental changes. Another explanation could be that climate in many rural communities in the Sahel is simply no longer the primary worry. The argument presented in this paper, supported by data from a small village in northern Burkina Faso, is that the villagers there are 'beyond climate' as their current livelihood strategies are increasingly climate independent. People have over the past decades engaged in livelihood diversification in order to negate the negative impact of climate variability on agriculture. In order to analyse the temporal perspective of climate–livelihood interaction, the paper employs human–environmental timelines. The results document the multiplicity of exposures shaping decisions in the village. While significant correlation exists between recent livelihood diversifications and major climatic events, it is equally obvious that recent political developments and the economic flow of project activities are crucial factors of change.}, author = {Nielsen and Reenberg, A.}, citeulike-article-id = {6080387}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.09.019}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0140196309002997}, day = {30}, doi = {10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.09.019}, issn = {01401963}, journal = {Journal of Arid Environments}, keywords = {200911, afrique\_de\_l\_ouest, burkina\_faso, climat, contemporain, environnement, societe}, month = {October}, posted-at = {2009-11-06 10:22:05}, priority = {2}, title = {Temporality and the problem with singling out climate as a current driver of change in a small West African village}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.09.019}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:6080387 L3 - citeulike-article-id:6080387 N2 - Concern about climate and its impact on human populations in the Sahel since the 1970s was an immediate response to the most recent of recurrent drought periods. Understanding the relative impact of this drought on rural life in the Sahel is, however, not straightforward. This is due to the fact that climate is only one of many factors influencing local adaptation strategies to environmental changes. Another explanation could be that climate in many rural communities in the Sahel is simply no longer the primary worry. The argument presented in this paper, supported by data from a small village in northern Burkina Faso, is that the villagers there are ‘beyond climate’ as their current livelihood strategies are increasingly climate independent. People have over the past decades engaged in livelihood diversification in order to negate the negative impact of climate variability on agriculture. In order to analyse the temporal perspective of climate–livelihood interaction, the paper employs human–environmental timelines. The results document the multiplicity of exposures shaping decisions in the village. While significant correlation exists between recent livelihood diversifications and major climatic events, it is equally obvious that recent political developments and the economic flow of project activities are crucial factors of change. JF - Journal of Arid Environments SN - 01401963 TI - Temporality and the problem with singling out climate as a current driver of change in a small West African village KW - 200911 KW - afrique_de_l_ouest KW - burkina_faso KW - climat KW - contemporain KW - environnement KW - societe AU - Nielsen AU - Reenberg, A PY - 2009/10/30/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.09.019 ER -