Western Africa has been discussed as a hot spot of environmental change. In the 1970ies and 80ies a drastic decrease in precipitation and severe droughts occurred in the Sahel. The degradation of the vegetation led to the desertification paradigm. But also in wetter regions south of the Sahel vegetation changes, mainly forest losses have happened. Since the 90ies the precipitation stabilized somewhat and a greening trend can be observed. Both paradigms, desertification and greening, tend to neglect regional and local differences. These differences are often decoupled from rainfall and are linked to land use practices. The article gives an overview about regional trends of vegetation and climate change and emphasize on decoupling precipitation and vegetation. Local examples show how land use leads to diverse vegetation developments.