World Food Policy
second section looks at the challenges
involved in measuring resilience. The
third section establishes a link with the
sustainability approaches. The fourth
and final section outlines what could be
a “pro-resilience” policy in the Sahel.
also form part of the “early recovery”
approach promoted by UNDP in the
early 2000s, and conceived as a transi-
tional stage between the abnormality
of a crisis and the normality of devel-
opment; or part of the FAO’s twin track
approach to improve the consistency
between emergency food aid and struc-
Resilience: A Useful Notion?
tural reduction of food insecurity. We
What is New?
might also mention here the long-es-
tablished integrated rural development
he first question we should ask
approaches aimed at globally address-
ourselves is: what is new about
ing the development of rural territories
resilience? Not much, in actual
and more effectively coordinating vari-
fact. First, despite an old reputation for
ous aid modalities.
resignation and passivity, West African
peasants and shepherds did not wait
for the fashion of resilience to respond A New Neoliberal Avatar?
and adapt to risks. Michael Mortimore,
he resilience approach therefore
writing in 1989, described the nature
often tends to create something
of Sahelian livelihoods as “uncertain-
new out of something old. This
ty-as-norm” and therefore designed is not problematic in itself, since it can
to adapt to uncertainty. The keywords provide an insight into Sahelian crises
found in the extensive literature on this and allow aid to be precisely targeted.
subject, across various disciplines, are However, for some authors, resilience
flexibility, diversification, complexi- also poses a real threat. For a start, since
ty, mobility, and adaptation. This long it is conservative by nature, it could be
tradition also explains why so many dangerous. It is rooted in ecosystemic
researchers are irritated by the emer- approaches, which focus on the mainte-
gence of a notion that is supposed to nance of the system’s essential functions
fill an analytical void, whereas a lot has and on an adaptive cycle, in order to
already been written on the practices of ensure a return to equilibrium. As a re-
Sahelians, of which practitioners and, sult, there would be no crises, just nec-
particularly, funding bodies are too of- essary and spontaneous adjustments.
ten unaware.
The highly conservative potential of the
T
T
Secondly, the drive for integra-
tion is nothing new. Attempts have been
made to go beyond the usual emergen-
cy/development divide since the 1990s
with the LRRD (Linking Relief, Reha-
bilitation, and Development) approach,
a favorite of the European Union. They
duplication on social area is clear, as is
the resulting risk of an inability to ad-
dress development issues, which would
be seen as a disruption. Analysts of so-
cioecological systems have, neverthe-
less, attempted to avoid this stumbling
block by broadening their thinking
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