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Adapting to drought in the Sahel

Lessons for climate change

Bibliographic Data

ID12929522
AuthorsMichael Mortimore (Drylands Research, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume1
Issue1
Pages134-143
Publication date2009-12-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1757-7780 • E-ISSN: 1757-7799
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/wcc.25
OpenAlexW2135246261
LanguageEN
Citations received32
References cited38

The Sahel's experience of adapting to changes in rainfall on a scale at least comparable to that of climate change scenarios, between the 1960s and the 1990s, suggests that lessons can be learnt that may have a wider utility for policy in the future. The Sahel is a major global agroecological region and its success in adaptation will influence the achievement of the global Millennium Development Goals. From simple typologies of adaptation strategies, our understanding of adaptive capacity has evolved over time (with accumulating observations) into a contextual model which places drought management at the center of a development process. Climate change impacts in future are very uncertain. Policies and interventions should therefore aim to build on the platform of past achievements and existing local knowledge to enable flexibility and diversity and the protection of assets of small‐scale farmers and herders. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This article is categorized under: Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Learning from Cases and Analogies

Adaptation (eye · Adaptive capacity · Adaptive Management · Climate change · Economics · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Flexibility (engineering · Geography · Political science · Scale (ratio · Vulnerability (computing · Agricultural risk and resilience · Climate change impacts on agriculture · Computer Science · Environmental Science · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology · Ecology

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Unique citing works32
Citations per year2,13
Citation span2011 - 2026 (16)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 28
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