Kenya - Analyzing the range of variables involved in land management and land restoration management is a daunting task for even the most experienced of scientists, particularly in dryland areas.

More than 2 billion people live in these complex ecosystems, which cover 40 percent of the world’s surface. Scientists with World Agroforestry (ICRAF) are working together with the Makueni County government in Kenya to determine how best to mitigate the impact of unpredictable rainfall patterns and severe land degradation – exacerbated by climate change – on human livelihoods, plants and animals.

To do so, they have co-designed a new resource hub for the county, an open-access website that will store data and maps on key progress indicators for restoration, including baseline assessments of social and ecological variables. Set to launch in the second half of the year, the new “decision dashboard” will make interactive information and data readily available in visual form in a single location.
It can be customized to suit any context or user and — based on user feedback and design requests — will include quantitative and qualitative information, graphs, charts, photographs, videos, documents and maps. It will have the capacity to illustrate trends and analyze various threads of information to inform decision-making.

Six decision dashboards have already been developed by ICRAF, and are available online via the ICRAF Geoscience Landscape Portal.

Through effective land restoration interventions and the prevention of farming practices that contribute to land degradation, scientists say they can enhance biodiversity and increase the resilience of communities to the effects of climate change. Check out the Geoscience Lab Landscape portal. (last link) Read the whole article following the links above.