This article outlines the historical context and likely future developments of the crisis affecting C?te d'Ivoire. It emphasizes that this crisis has more to do wih agronomic and environmental problems than with migration. As in the past, major regional migratory flows will in future result from economic strategies followed by the populations concerned. However, as problems of land access in southern C?te d'Ivoire are becoming unbearable, rapid changes in population can be expected in other areas of West Africa. The Sudano-Sahelian region of West Africa deserves particular attention on this point. In order to prepare for the future and prevent further crises, C?te d'Ivoire and its Sahelian neighbors have every reason to work together to develop and and populate the region, which represents the north of one country and the south of the others.