View source for Permanent Interstate Committee for drought control in the Sahel

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[[Image:Map of CILSS.svg|thumb|Map of members]]
The '''Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel''' (French: ''Comité permanent inter-État de lutte contre la sécheresse au Sahel'', abbreviated as '''CILSS''') is an [[international organization]] consisting of countries in the [[Sahel]] region of [[Africa]].

== Overview ==
According to the official homepage, the organization's mandate is to invest in research for food security and the fight against the effects of drought and [[desertification]] for a new ecological balance in the Sahel.<ref>"Rubric." ''Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel. Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel'', n.d. Web. 28 Aug 2010. <[https://web.archive.org/web/20090413010326/http://www.cilss.bf/spip.php?rubrique41].</ref>

The Sahel is a transition area between the very dry North and tropical forests on the coast. It mostly displays bushes, herbs and very small trees and does not offer regular harvests to its inhabitants. Main characteristics include:
* a very irregular and little predictable rainfall, from 200&nbsp;mm to 2500&nbsp;mm
* predominance of agriculture and husbandry. More than half of the inhabitants are farmers and agriculture contributes more than 40% to the GDP
* high demographic growth (around 3.1%) and high urban growth (around 7%)

The CILSS was created in 1973 during the first great [[drought]] in the region with the aim of mobilizing the population in the Sahel and the international community to facilitate urgent need and the organization of works in various domains i.e. rainfed and irrigated agriculture, environment, transport, and communication. In 1995 it centered its activities on basic [[food security]] and the use of [[natural resource]]s. 

The executive office is located in [[Ouagadougou]], [[Burkina Faso]]. 

List of countries that are a member:

* [[Benin]]
* [[Burkina Faso]]
* [[Cape Verde]]
* [[Chad]]
* [[Gambia]]
* [[Guinea]]
* [[Guinea-Bissau]]
* [[Ivory Coast]]
* [[Mali]]
* [[Mauritania]]
* [[Niger]]
* [[Senegal]]
* [[Togo]]

==See also==
*[[2010 Sahel famine]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20131107024654/http%3A//www.cilss.bf/ Official "Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel" website]—{{in lang|en|fr}}
* [http://www.insah.org/ Institut du Sahel]—{{in lang|fr}}

{{Portal bar|Agriculture|Ecology|Earth sciences|Africa|Weather}}

[[Category:Sahel]]
[[Category:Environmental organizations based in Africa|Sahel]]
[[Category:Environmentalism in Africa]]
[[Category:International organizations based in Africa]]
[[Category:Agricultural organizations]]
[[Category:Hydrology organizations]]
[[Category:International water associations]]
[[Category:Droughts in Africa]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Burkina Faso]]
[[Category:Organizations based in Cape Verde]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Chad]]
[[Category:Organisations based in the Gambia]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Guinea-Bissau]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Mali]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Mauritania]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Niger]]
[[Category:Environmental organisations based in Senegal]]
[[Category:Environmental organizations established in 1973]]
[[Category:1973 establishments in Africa]]