Table 1. General information on the African Sahel (Kandji et al. 2006). Location It represents the southern edge of the Sahara desert, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east, from Cape Verde to the south by the less arid Sudano-Sahelian belt, covering a surface area about 5.7 million km². Climate It is a transitional zone between the arid Sahara desert in the north and subhumid savanna zone in the south, with annual rainfall varying from 200 mm to 600 mm. Vegetation Vegetation cover of the Sahel is composed of bushes, grasses, and stunted trees that increase in density as one moves southward. Land use Traditional way of utilizing the Sahel is mostly raising livestock in a system of seminomads, i.e., farming and raising livestock in a system of transhumance. Animals Grazing livestock of cattle, camel, sheep, and goats as well as wild grazing mammals such as Scimitar-horned Oryx (Oryx dammah), Dama Gazelle (Gazella dama). Population It supports a population of about 58 million inhabitants; among them about 13% are nomadic pastoralists, i.e., Tuareg, Fulani, and other ethnic groups. Social problems The expansion of agriculture and a shift to agro-pastoralism pushed nomadic pastoralists into more marginal regions.