To separate rainfed driven vegetation dynamics from other factors in West Africa,
the estimate of Net Primary Production was divided with annual rainfall to
derive an estimate of Rain Use Efficiency (RUE).
Comparing the trends in NPP and RUE then allow disentangling of rainfall and other factors
in the vegetation dynamics (i.e. recovery) seen over the last 2 decades in the Sahel. As RUE
increases are restricted to 1/3 of the area with NPP increase, it must be concluded that the
full potential of the rainfall increase has not been reached.
