The West Africa Sentinel Landscape (WASL) is found within a transect that spans the NE of Mali (Sikasso, Koutiala and Bougouni), Burkina Faso (Bobo Dioulasso, Banfora, Koungoussi and Lake Bam, Ouagadougou,Leo, Fada Ngourma and the W Park), Northern Ghana (Wa, Lawra, Djirapa, Sabuli, Ping, Heng and Tamale, including the Gbele Game Production Reserve), and Northern Togo (Dapaong and mango including the "Fosse aux lions National Park). This transect also includes the Niger Basin (SE Mali) and the Volta Basin (Burkina Faso, Northern Ghana and Northern Togo).

The research will try to generate data on landscape performance over time, to permit identification and interpretation of these thresholds with respect to potential impacts on poverty, food security, human nutrition and sustainable natural resource management. The main purpose of this analysis is to better understand how humans relate to trees within landscapes, and the corresponding and retro-implications for both humans and tree ecosystems of these relationships.

In order to do this, it is important to obtain knowledge of the landscape units and components, human activities and land use types, the change in processes and their effects, as well as how they can enhance or impede the stated management objectives.