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Anti-erosion struggle and socio-economic constraints in the savannah region of Northern Togo Volume 19, issue 2, avril-mai-juin 2008

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Author
Département de géographie, Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines (FLESH), Département de géographie, Laboratoire de recherches biogéographiques et d’études environnementales (LaRBE), Université de Lomé, BP 1515, Lomé, Togo

Erosion constitutes one of the most active factors of natural resource degradation in the Northern Togo Savannah Region, which by itself represents 54.2% of the seriously affected lands of the country. The anti-erosion struggle initiated some 10 years ago has ever since mobilised a spectrum of techniques, that is to say mechanical and biological means, requiring financial resources as well as changes in both farming and land tenure practices. Based on field investigations and the analysis of socio-economic factors that condition the efficiency of the proposed techniques, this study aims at showing why these anti-erosion operations have yet to succeed in efficiently contributing to the preservation of the agro-ecological patrimony. The example of the savannah region seems to confirm the pre-eminence of socio-economic factors over technical aspects in matters of soil preservation.