Nowadays, despite the harsh climate, the availability of arable land, surface water (Lake Chad, the Niger and Senegal rivers and their tributaries) and groundwater provide the region with good potential for agro-sylvo-pastoral and
fisheries sector. Cotton, groundnuts, rice, livestock and fisheries are value chains with high potential for the productive transformation of Sahelian agricultural economies. The Sahelian countries are ranked among the world’s leading producers of shea and cashew nuts, sesame, fonio, cowpeas, yams, cassava, gum arabic, millet and sorghum.
The subsoil is rich in natural resources, including oil, bauxite, gold, uranium, iron, limestone and phosphate. However, exploiting them leads to strong dependency on world prices for raw materials – particularly for oil and uranium – and can cause environmental disasters. The Sahara has huge gold deposits, which attract millions of artisanal gold miners

Facing up to reality, preparing for the future

The Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC) Secretariat has launched a pilot foresight exercise at a time when the Sahel is facing unprecedented crises. The Sahelian consultations provide a platform for open exchange between those in the region who are reflecting upon the complex equation of development, governance and stability. By involving actors from civil society, academia, professional organisations and think tanks, it is hoped that these consultations will generate new ways of developing and implementing public policy in the Sahel. They aim to bring these alternative processes, articulated by trans-Sahelian voices often outside governmental and international arenas, to the attention of policy makers to help build a realistic future.

The SWAC Secretariat has produced an assessment of the inescapable realities and underlying trends of the Sahel. This analysis, featured in Sahel to come: What today tells us about tomorrow, shapes the ideas debated around governance issues in order to generate responses that are based on current and future facts and constraints.

The Sahelian consultations, organised by the SWAC Secretariat, under the aegis of the Honorary President of the Club and with the guidance of an Advisory Board, are being held throughout 2021. They have received additional financial support from the French Development Agency (AFD).

Between 1997 and mid-2021, 27% of all events and 30% of all fatalities in North and West Africa were within 50 km of a border.