Panarchie dans le Sahel

L’initiative de la Grande Muraille Verte au prisme des relations d’influence entre acteurs

Abstract

This article focuses on the Great Green Wall Initiative, a reforestation project in Sahel and the implementation of its monitoring in Senegal. Based on a "participatory" observation as an actor involved in this project, this project appears as emblematic of the projects referring to many legitimacies (environmentalism, transnational cooperation, national legitimization, local development, scientific rigor) while each of them is questioned. Beyond the associated rhetoric, conducting this project means practically following a gentle avoidance of every possible point of friction: On the reforestation site, the local management mode goes through a non-formalized entanglement of the state and local communities. The theme of desertification first allows the mobilization of international funds. The rhetoric of governance sees its definition intentionally left to the interpretation of each player where each stakeholder find a profit to maintain open dialogue. Scientists, regardless of nationality, are then the de facto interface between these spheres. Even more, the management of scientific disciplines, for the same financial and political reasons, follows the same strategy of conflict avoidance and tacit control.