Causal relations and land use transformation in the Sahel : conceptual lenses for processes, temporal totality and inertia

Exploring causal relations : the societal effects of climate change

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)



Description :
Recent developments in the Sahelian land use system are described here using data from empirical case studies conducted in the northernmost region of Burkina Faso over the past 20 years. Specific attention is given to presenting 1) main trends in the transformation of the land use and livelihoods, 2) the co-evolution of possible driving forces that enables and constrains conditions for change and 3) characteristic trajectories of change. Inspired by the notions of process, temporal totality and inertia, the paper suggests employing a portfolio of complementary perspectives to investigate change processes. Four different conceptual lenses to analyze human-environment interaction are proposed and examined (the land change science framework, the double exposure notion, the system dynamics (SD) approach and coupled human-environmental timelines). It is concluded that these conceptual lenses, in concert, can help to put process, in the sense of a sequence of successive stages, in the centre of our understanding of change and causal relationships in human-environmental systems.


Type de document :
Article de monographie

Source :
Geografisk tidsskrift, issn : 1903-2471, 2012, vol. 112, n°. 2, p. 159-173, nombre de pages : 15, Références bibliographiques : 2 p.

Date :
2012

Identifiants :
eurl : http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00167223.2012.741888, doi : http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00167223.2012.741888

Editeur :
Pays édition : Danemark, Kobenhavn, Det Kongelige Danske Geografiske Selskab