Trends in re-greening and soil degradation in western Niger

Résumé

This paper studied the simultaneous evolutions of re-greening and soil degradation in the West of Niger between 1998 and 2017. It relied on in situ and cartographic observations to analyze the indices of vegetation and environmental degradation in cultivated and in a classified area (devoid of anthropogenic actions). In the classified area, the results show a tendency towards re-greening with a progression of at least 500% of vegetation index. In cultivated areas, on the other hand, the localized observations reveal two tendencies, one coherent showing the re-greening and the decrease of the degradation and the other paradoxical showing the re-greening and the extension of the degraded soils. The latter can be explained by the memory effect of the droughts of the years 1970-1990 but also by the way of resources management. Overall, we conclude on the trend towards re-greening and highlighting the resilience of the ecosystems studied to climate shock.