OPINION: Investing in soil health key to closing the yield gaps
Even without climate change, there is an enormous challenge to meet the growing demand for food with the current status of soil health in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
Keith Shepherd
Keith D Shepherd is a Principal Soil Scientist at World Agroforestry in Nairobi, Kenya & the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems with 40 years' research experience in tropical land management
Regreening activities kick-off in Somalia
Thousands of farmers are set to benefit from land restoration in the drought- and strife-stricken country.
The missing middle: how enabling environments will translate global commitments into local action
Delegates at Global Soil Week 2019 push for effective land governance, local governance structures, extension services, and finance and markets to ensure sustainable and climate resilient agriculture.
Using the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework to assess land health in Rwanda
By Dorcas Sanginga Regreening Africa’s Land Degradation Dynamics component, spearheaded by Leigh Winowiecki, soil systems scientist, and Tor-Gunnar Vågen, geoinformatics senior scientist, recently conducted Field Training and Field Survey: Biophysical Soil and Land Health Assessment using the Land...
Fixing forests: how Decision Analysis is working on the ground in East Africa
Originally published by the CGIAR Research Programme on Water, Land and Ecosystems Among East Africa’s biodiversity hotspots is the Desa’a forest, which borders Tigray and Afar in Northern Ethiopia. The forest has become a priority area for conservation,...
Successful farmer-managed natural regeneration in Ghana: a case study
A community in Ghana have taken only five years to restore their forest and are already enjoying the benefits. Samuel Abasiba of World Vision Ghana defines farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) as “a low-cost land restoration technique...
Land restoration in Africa builds momentum
Hundreds of delegates from across Africa and the world met recently at the Global Landscapes Forum in Nairobi, intent on working together to help restore land. During 29–30 August 2018, delegates from governments, donor agencies, development organizations, research...
ICRAF presents the role of evidence and improved soil management for land restoration in sub-Saharan Africa at the European Development Days
Approximately 70% of Africa’s population depends on its agriculture-based economy for their livelihoods, underscoring the importance of soil to the sector. Fertile soils across the continent are under threat, however, due in large part to climate change and...
Soil management and land restoration vital to meeting climate change and sustainable development targets
Land degradation impacts the health and livelihoods of about 1.5 billion people worldwide. Further, the annual costs associated with land degradation worldwide is estimated to be US$ 231 billion as measured in terms of loss productivity and the...
New report highlights cost of land degradation and potential for agroforestry in rehabilitation
Land degradation is costing the world $10.6tn every year, equivalent to 17 per cent of global gross domestic product, says a new report by the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) initiative. This figure takes into account costs associated...
What do four decades of earth observation tell us about land degradation in the Sahel?
While many studies suggest that the Sahel is greening, others indicate that there is increasing land degradation, largely attributed to two severe droughts experienced in the 1970s and 1980s. However, recent findings show improved greenness as a result...