Moseley, W.G. "Environmental Degradation and ‘Poor’ Smallholders in the West African Sudano-Sahel: Global Discourses and Local Realities

William G. Moseley, Macalester College

Abstract

This chapter explores the 'poverty-induced environmental degradation' thesis in the West African Sudano-Sahel and the extent to which it may be considered an environmental development narrative. It examines: (1) the key elements of this discourse; (2) the degree by which this thesis has been internalized by policy makers in Mali; (3) whether there is empirical evidence to support the notion of poverty-induced environmental degradation in Mali's smallholder cotton zone; and (4) the alternative explanations for environmental degradation in southern Mali (e.g., unsustainable cotton production) and the reasons why these causal factors have been less prominent in environment-development discourse.