Title: Natural Resources, Poverty, Sustainability, and Governance in Central Sahel
Subtitle: The Constraints and Challenges of Agricultural and Mining Resources
Subject Classification:  Energy, Politics and Government, Food and Farming  
BIC Classification: KNB, JP, JFCV
BISAC Classification:
Binding: Hardback, eBook
Planned publication date: Mar 2026
ISBN (Hardback): 978-1-83711-757-4
ISBN (eBook): 978-1-83711-758-1

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Description

This book focuses on the use of natural resources in three Sahelian countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger). These nations face significant ecological challenges concerning their renewable natural resources—land, water, and biomass—which are essential for food production. The non-renewable natural resources available, particularly minerals, can provide economic benefits to the country and some of its people, but they also pose serious sustainability risks. The resource-based sectors operate in the context of high poverty in these countries; this adds new constraints to food production and makes artisanal mining a means of escape from socio-economic precarity. The governance of these natural resources raises important issues, as does the management of conflicts related to their competitive access. Environmental impact and sustainability are common and major concerns in both sectors.

The productive and social interactions between the two resource-based sectors are complex and often contradictory. Agriculture and mining, particularly the extractive artisanal model, compete for access to land and other critical production factors. On one hand, artisanal mining can serve as a crucial livelihood diversification strategy for poor farming families. For its part, industrial mining provides public revenue, which, under adequate governance, can improve social services for the rural population. On the other hand, the environmental costs of mining, both artisanal and industrial, can be severe and long-lasting for agricultural activities.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of the various issues - socio-economic, institutional, environmental, and more - related to agriculture and mining, as well as the similarities and particular characteristics of these issues across both sectors in the countries examined.

Biography

Author(s):  After obtaining his Economics degree in 1976, he worked in Spain in agricultural and rural credit organisations. In 1986, he joined the European Commission, holding posts in the agriculture and international cooperation directorates, including as head of EU cooperation in Zambia, Central Asia and Niger.

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