Ecosystems Services and Rural Livelihoods in the Sahel: Environmental Accounting and Wealth Surveys - Summary for Decision Makers

This document synthesizes evidence on how ecosystem services underpin rural livelihoods in the Sahel by applying environmental accounting—specifically emergy-based metrics—to 17 representative land-use subsystems and a Mali wealth survey covering over 2,700 households in 77 villages, using rainfall and RNNDVI indicators to gauge ecosystem condition. It finds agroforestry systems that integrate trees with crops and livestock use fewer non-renewable inputs, yield multiple co-products, and improve emergy exchange ratios relative to monocropping; Sahelian grain production is comparatively efficient in environmental footprint, while beef is less efficient than U.S. systems and milk more efficient. Key determinants of household wealth include rainfall and the interaction of RNNDVI with its trend, yet demographic factors dominate.