On regreening and degradation in Sahelian watersheds #MMPMID26371296
Kaptué AT; Prihodko L; Hanan NP
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2015[Sep]; 112 (39): 12133-8 PMID26371296show ga
For decades, the science and policy narrative relating to the West African Sahel has focused on perceptions of overgrazing and human-induced desertification. More recent reports of regional-scale recovery (?regreening?) following the severe droughts of the 1970s and 1980s are sometimes ignored. This study provides a satellite-based evaluation of changes in watershed-scale vegetation conditions in four regions of the Sahel from 1983?2012. Though the results support earlier reports of a ?greening? trend, our approach identified strong regional differences in the extent and direction of change, and in the apparent role of woody and herbaceous components in driving the temporal trend.