Trend in land degradation has been the most contended issue in the Sahel. Trends documented have not been consistent across authors and science disciplines, hence little agreement has been gained on the magnitude and direction of land degradation in the Sahel. Differentiated science outputs are related to methods and data used at various scales.

Cheikh Mbow1, Martin Brandt2, Rasmus Fensholt3, Issa Ouedraogo1 and Torbern Tagesson2, (1)World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Nairobi, Kenya, (2)University of Copenhagen, København K, Denmark, (3)University of Copenhagen, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Copenhagen, Denmark