In the Sahel, the traditional parkland systems, which are the main providers of food, incomes, and environmental services, are rapidly degrading. In spite of the desperate situation, there is a growing number of cases which document success in crop, livestock and forest production, in environmental management, in empowerment and capacity building of farmers, and in a mix of all these. Thus, there is a need to better understand the drivers of such successes as well as the circumstances in which they work, to serve as a basis for future actions. This paper looks at how we can draw lessons from success stories of conserving vegetation cover in the Sahel and enhance the role of parkland systems through conservation agriculture with trees (CAWT). Conservation Agriculture (CA) refers to farming practices that contribute to three key principles, namely, reducing soil disturbance, maintaining soil cover and crop rotation/association. These practices are more specifically CAWT, where a woody perennial is used as a technological element within the practice. The geographical scope of the review covers four Sahelian countries, which are Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Senegal.