La notion de savoir local s’est imposée dans la recherche scientifique et l’aménagement du territoire depuis plus de deux décennies, à la suite de la sonnette d’alarme tirée par de nombreux auteurs (Blanc-Pamard, 1986 ; Roose, 1988 ; Bouzou, 1988 ; Luxereau, 1994 ; Fairhead et Leach, 1994 ; Luxereau et Roussel, 1997 ; Garba et al., 1997 ; Jouve, 1997…) pour un changement de cap, suite aux échecs relatifs des projets de développement en Afrique afin d’asseoir les bases d’un véritable développement durable. Il était reproché aux projets de développement et à leurs concepteurs leur approche techniciste et l’absence de participation des populations et de partenariat.
Description of vegetation patterns associated with environmental factors such as grazing, climate, landforms, substrate variables etc. are helpful for land management planning. This study used new synecological tools to investigate plants composition and to provide ecological descriptions of plants communities of communal pastures in Sahelian Ecological Zone of Niger. Vegetation and several environmental variables were recorded in 197 plots using the Braun-Blanquet cover-abundance scale. A composite soil sample of about 1 kg from each plot was collected for analysis. A total of 252 species were recorded, belonging to 148 genera from 47 families, in which the angiosperms families counting 251 species are more represented and the pteridophytes are represented by one species belonging to the family of Marsileaceae. Poaceae, Leguminosae-Papilionoideae, Convolvulaceae, Cyperaceae and Leguminosae-Mimosoideae are the largest families. High abundance of the Poaceae species reveal the great potential forage value of the Sahelian rangelands.