Land degradation is a process where the biophysical conditions of the environment change as a result of human activity on land. In Togo, people have gradually over-exploited natural resources, especially forest resources, to ensure their livelihood. This overexploitation of natural resources is one of the main factors of land degradation in the country.

2. To understand the socio-economic and political determinants of the use of natural resources and, therefore, land degradation in Togo, the following research questions were asked:

• What uses of natural resources are responsible for land degradation?
• What are the types and extent of land degradation?
• What are the socio-economic and political determinants of land degradation?
• What are the technologies and practices of Sustainable Land Management (SLM)?

3. The objective of this study is to identify the socio-economic determinants of the use of natural resources and, starting with, land degradation in the five regions of Togo (Central, Kara, Maritime, Maritime, Plateaux and Savannas). Specifically, the study will consist in:

• document the methods of use of natural resources (agriculture, livestock, forestry, forest exploitation, land tenure, income and the state of poverty of populations, etc.) in order to understand the direct and indirect impacts of these in each region;
• identify in each zone the different land use systems and the main types of land degradation that occur there;
• identify and analyze, for each land use system, the good land management practices implemented by populations to reverse degradation;
• identify and analyze the socio-political and economic determinants that impact the use of natural resources;
• identify the constraints, weaknesses, potentialities and advantages of socio-economic determinants in the current use of natural resources in connection with land degradation in each region;
• make proposals for actions for sustainable land management in Togo.

4. The study is carried out in two phases, namely a research/documentary analysis phase and a field data collection phase. Field data is collected at two levels. These are direct field observations and surveys carried out among the populations at the base. For this field work, the choice of locations is made on the basis of the map of the cyclical land degradation index and taking into account the accessibility and the size of the population of these localities. This map shows 5 classes of land degradation (very low, low, medium, high, and very high). With regard to field observations, two representative localities were chosen in each land degradation class in each economic region of Togo, i.e. 10 locations per economic region for a total of 50 localities surveyed throughout Togo. On the other hand, for the collection of socio-economic data, three localities were surveyed per economic region, i.e. 15 localities in total for the whole country.

5. Field observations made it possible to gather precise information on the activities carried out and land practices, and to identify the various actions undertaken by the populations (land development, the type of tools, microprojects, microprojects, techniques for managing natural resources, etc.). These field
observations are carried out along the transects installed in the various landscape units (land use system (SUT), land use types (TUT), land use (UT)). On each transect, a team made up of agro-pedologists and ecologists spend one to two hours to capture the main land use systems, land degradation areas and land degradation control areas.

6. As far as surveys are concerned, the data collected are among others the nature and perception of the evolution of land degradation, the nature of the risks and sensitivity of households or participatory mapping of risks related to land degradation, the analysis/research of actors. This data is collected by focus groups. In each locality, 7 focus groups were carried out during the survey, i.e. 105 focus groups in total. These focus groups brought together 914 people including 349 women (38%). Other data were collected from households. These are data relating to land use and land systems, livestock, forestry (goods and services derived from the forest) and land conservation technologies. In households, data are collected through semi-structured interviews. In each locality, 15 households were surveyed, for a total of 225 households.

7. The results of this study show that land degradation is a tangible phenomenon in all regions of the country. Lightly or very weakly degraded lands are much more represented in the Plateaux Region (RP) and the Central Region - RC while the Maritime Region (RM) only has a few rare areas where weakly degraded lands are still represented. For moderately degraded land, they are represented in all 5 economic regions with relatively larger areas in the RM and the Kara Region (RK). As for highly degraded land, it is especially in the RK and the Savanes Region (RS) that they are the most represented. However, specificities for particular types of land degradation are observed at the level of each region. Comparative analysis of land degradation in Togo
between 1994 and 2014 results in a significant variation in land degradation classes in each of the 5 economic regions.

8. The main factors of this degradation are mainly of an anthropogenic nature. These are bad agricultural practices, forest fires, the overexploitation of firewood, lumber, carbonization and transhumance. The socio-political contingencies of the 1990s and the resulting movement of populations from conflict zones to the center and south of the country reinforced the pressure of human activities on the land. Most localities have erosion risks described as “medium” to “high” and can still be rehabilitated in various ways. Land degradation has a
significant impact on the living standards of the population and on the potential for economic development.

9. The main consequence of land degradation is the fall in agricultural yields, which is reflected in the reduction of farmers' incomes and the impoverishment of the rural world. The feedback from this evil that plagues rural people are the rural exodus, emigration to countries in the sub-region or to the West, the depravity of the dead, land disputes and the change of activities made especially by young people who become motorcycle taxi drivers. To deal with the severe degradation of land, populations are developing land conservation technologies such as land defense, agroforestry, siloed ridges, stone ridges, etc. These technologies are supported in some places either by decentralized State structures, or by NGOs/Associations. But the effectiveness of these technologies is still moderate. This calls on all actors at all levels, namely the State, civil society organizations, civil society organizations, grassroots populations, donors and microfinance institutions, for tangible and extensive actions.