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Two Malian case studies are compared both representing dryland areas with relatively low population densities and relatively low levels of land dégradation Douentza is m the semi-and to and zone, where erop cultivation is very nsky and pastoralism a more natural' way of making use of the environment However, recently erop cultivation has been expandmg rapidly and has partialty recovered from the droughts of the 1970s and 1980s Crop cultivation now provides a livelihood for impovenshed former pastorahsts (hke FulBe and Tamachek), but also for groups who have always been cultivators (hke the Dogon) Many people ongmating from this area have extended their geographical network and can be found in areas much further to the South Many retam their relations with their areas of ongm, though Koutiala is an area m the sub humid zone and m a région which benefited from the Malian cotton boom economy of the 1980s and 1990s Not only did the local Mmyanka prosper the expandmg economy also provided a livelihood for many immigrants who had escaped the drought conditions of the northern area INTRODUCTIONChmate change is not a phenomenon that can be instantly observed It mamfests itself m small, graduai changes m température, evaporation and ramfall figures However, m thé long term, climate change can hâve a tremendous effect, for example when the growing of a certain erop is no longer possible In semi-and environments, the variations m agroecological conditions m time and space are so gréât that small changes are hard to detect Climate change, therefore, tends to manifest itself as an mcrease m extrême events such as excessive ramfall or, at the

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Population mobility has always been regarded as a special and temporary phenomenon. However, in many instances mobility is the normal state, while sedentarity is the extraordinary situation. This is illustrated with two examples ofso-called 'cultures of travel'. Theflrst about the Fulbe in Mali demonstrates the ways in which mobility has historically been embedded in Sahelian cultures under conditions that are marginal from both an ecological and an economie point of view. It illustrâtes how people develop economie and cultural stratégies marked by a high degree of opportunism. Their society is, in fact, organised around mobility. The second case, that ofGhanaian Pentecostalism, shows how a spécifie form of culture acts to bring about a particular form of mobility. Unlike the Fulbe, u is not the whole society that moves hut persons who are mobile for individual and personal reasons, It is an example of how people construct and, almost literally, produce cultural farms and means for dealing with everyday Problems of mobility, andsuccess andfailure in this domain.

Arannde Burl welde, arannde yimße maayataa, daabaaji mbaatataa, jooni Buri nyaw (In the past it was better, people did not die, animais did not die, now there is rauch more illness) Kumboore, Serma, December 1990.Mm laatii hono daabaaji (We have become like animais) Hammadu lisa, Serma.Hannde yaage walaa (There is no shame any more) Hadjara Aamadu, Serma, November 1991.Solla warataa Biijawngal (Dust does not kill a small guinea-fowl) Fulfulde proverb.