Abstract: The paper attempts to examine four interrelated areas of concern: first, why despite substantial contribution to production, pastoralists have not been accorded sufficient attention by policy makers and planners. Second, the linkages between the externalities and internalities which produced a pastoral system of production incapable of coping with an increasing economic and ecological pressures. Third, responses to the crisis that has largely been heralded by the neglect and underestimation of pastoral production systems and the possibility of a linkage between the environment and development in the Sahel. Fourth, agro-pastoralism as a regional production system and what policies can be pursued to fully utilize this potential for the benefit of the pastoralists and states of the Sahel.