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Wind erosion response to past and future agro-pastoral trajectories in the Sahel (Niger)

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Abstract

Context

Wind erosion plays a major role in land degradation in semi-arid areas, especially in the Sahel. There, wind erosion is as sensitive to land use and land management as to climate factors. Future land use intensification may increase wind erosion and induce regional land degradation.

Objective

We aimed to estimate wind erosion responses to changing land management in a Sahelian region.

Methods

We defined land use intensification scenarios for a study site in southwestern Niger for two historical situations (1950s and 1990s), and two alternative prospective scenarios (2030s: extensive or intensive). We simulated vegetation growth and horizontal sediment flux of wind erosion for the corresponding landscapes.

Results

Annual amounts of horizontal sediment flux increased with land management changes from 1950s (nil flux) to 1990s (176 kg m−1 yr−1) and 2030s (452 to 520 kg m−1 yr−1), mostly because of differences in land use, declining soil fertility, and practices decreasing the dry vegetation. For 2030s, intensive scenario exhibited larger vegetation yields than extensive conditions, but similar large values of horizontal sediment flux, thus questioning the sustainability of both scenarios. Realistic sets of practices had as large an influence as the largest theoretical range of practices on the variability of annual horizontal sediment flux. This variability was as large as that due to meteorological conditions.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that the environmental impact of land use and management practices, of which wind erosion is an aspect, must be assessed at the landscape scale to account for the variability in land cover and associated land management.

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Acknowledgements

The meteorological data monitored at Banizoumbou study site (Niger) were provided by the INDAAF network (Service National d’Observation “International Network to Study deposition and Atmospheric composition in Africa”; https://indaaf.obs-mip.fr/). INDAAF is funded by the INSU/CNRS, the IRD and the OSUs Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (Université Paul Sabatier) and EFLUVE (Université Paris Est Créteil) and is part of the French Research Infrastructure ACTRIS-Fr. The author thanks the local operators, Aliko Maman (IRD, Niamey, Niger) and Alfari Zakou for maintaining the station of Banizoumbou and the measurements and for providing high quality data since 2006. Monitoring of land use in the study area over the last decades was performed by P. Hiernaux and collaborators in the frame of the AMMA-CATCH Observatory. The authors thank E. Mougin, C. Delon and M. Grippa for providing the latest version of the STEP model, C. Baron for providing support on the use of the SarraH model, and A. De Rouw and G. Bergametti for their useful comments.

Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study. N. Webb was an invited scientist supported by the French MOPGA (Make Our Planet Great Again) program at iEES-Paris in November 2018.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IEES-Paris (Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences – Paris), CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Est Créteil, Université de Paris, INRAE, IRD, 4 place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France

    C. Pierre, J. L. Rajot & C. Bouet

  2. Pastoc, 30 chemin de Jouanal, 82160, Caylus, France

    P. Hiernaux

  3. Université de Paris and Université Paris Est Creteil, CNRS, LISA, 75013, Paris, France

    J. L. Rajot & C. Bouet

  4. GET (Géosciences Environnement Toulouse), CNRS, Université de Toulouse, IRD, 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31400, Toulouse, France

    L. Kergoat

  5. USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range, Las Cruces, NM, USA

    N. P. Webb

  6. Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Département de Géologie, Université Abdou Moumouni, 10662, Niamey, BP, Niger

    A. Abdourhamane Touré

  7. Université Paris Est Creteil and Université de Paris, CNRS, LISA, 94010, Créteil, France

    B. Marticorena

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  1. C. Pierre
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Pierre, C., Hiernaux, P., Rajot, J.L. et al. Wind erosion response to past and future agro-pastoral trajectories in the Sahel (Niger). Landsc Ecol 37, 529–550 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-021-01359-8

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