Land health linked to human health
The project assesses land health at the landscape scale and explores how it is linked to human health and wellbeing.
The Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF) was used to assess land health at the landscape level in the four project study sites. The framework is built around a systematic biophysical field survey and sampling protocol, where multiple georeferenced land health indicators are measured within 10 x 10 km sites.
Learn more about the LDSF here.
For more details about the fieldwork campaign, data analysis and how the LDSF dataset will be used in the project, see our blog post here.
The complete dataset from the baseline assessment of soil and land health indicators, collected using the LDSF, has been published and is openly available here.
From analyses of soil samples and field and laboratory data, we assessed land and ecosystem health at multiple scales using statistical modelling and machine learning methods based on data from the LDSF network of sites, which comprises more than 300 sites across the global tropics.
Results
Dataset
· Winowiecki, L.A., Bargués-Tobella, A., Maina, J., Musembi Kimeu, J., & Vågen, T.G. (2023).
Baseline assessment of soil and land health indicators within the ‘Drylands Transform’ and ‘Drylands Restore’ sites in Kenya and Uganda using the LDSF. World Agroforestry (ICRAF). Available at: https://doi.org/10.34725/DVN/UJVTK8
Student thesis
- Swärd, A.L.E. (2023). Ecosystem services from woody vegetation in East African rangelands. MSc thesis, SLU.
https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/19543/
Conference papers
· Bargués-Tobella, A., Winowiecki, L.A., Ahmad, M.N., Kiunga, W., Lundberg Ingemarsson, M., Mohamoud, A., Mpairwe, D., Munyua, D., (…) Vågen, T.G. (2025). Scaling rangeland restoration in East Africa through synergies in the biodiversity–water–climate nexus. In: Proceedings of the XII International Rangeland Congress, Adelaide, Australia, pp. 577–580. https://irc2025.rangelandcongress.org/
(Presents preliminary results from the land-health assessmentsConference presentations (videos)
Agri4D Conference 2023 — Panel: Building resilient food systems in drylands: Challenges and lessons learned from transdisciplinary research in East Africa
- Part I
Overview of the LDSF field campaign and data-collection approach
(starts at 13:35)
Watch: https://vimeo.com/864431035/2bf122f248 - Part II
Presentation of preliminary land-health findings from the baseline assessment
(starts at 00:10)
Watch: https://vimeo.com/864444034/47348e2e72
Objective 1 leaders
Aida Bargues Tobella, Postdoctor
Department of Forest Ecology and Management, SLU
aida.bargues.tobella@slu.se, +46907868346
Leigh Ann Winowiecki, Leader of Land Health Decisions
World Agroforestry, ICRAF
l.a.winowiecki@cgiar.org