Africa's Soil Guardians: How GMES & Africa Contributes to the Fight against Land Degradation

December 5 marks World Soil Day, an opportunity to reflect on the reasons behind this celebration and highlight the contributions of the GMES & Africa Programme to this critical domain.

A Collective and Well-Founded Decision

World Soil Day was established following a resolution adopted by the United Nations on December 20, 2013. This decision is rooted in clear and objective observations:

• Soils form the foundation of agricultural development, essential ecosystem functions, and food security.
• They play a vital role in sustaining life on Earth.
• Sustainable soil management is crucial to addressing challenges linked to the world’s growing population. By raising awareness and supporting initiatives aimed at promoting sustainable soil management, it is possible to ensure soil health, thereby securing a future of food security and ecosystem sustainability.

The benefits of effective soil management extend beyond environmental concerns. Its economic and social importance is significant, including contributions to economic growth, support for biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, food security, women’s empowerment, poverty reduction, climate change mitigation, and enhanced water availability. However, desertification, land degradation, and drought continue to pose major obstacles to sustainable development, particularly in developing countries.

These global challenges remind us that soil is a precious yet fragile resource that must be protected.

The Action of GMES & Africa

GMES & Africa is a pan-African programme designed to provide satellite-based information for more effective management of terrestrial and marine natural resources, including soil.

The programme supports a diverse community of actors (nearly 200), including public and private institutions, universities, research centers, and experts. It relies on Earth observation data, primarily from the European Copernicus Programme and also transmitted via the EUMETCast network and the eStations.

With a systemic approach, GMES & Africa:

• Facilitates access to satellite data.
• Develops products and services tailored to users’ needs.
• Organizes training and awareness campaigns to encourage their use.
• Promotes the exchange of knowledge and best practices.
• Supports the establishment and strengthening of institutional and policy frameworks conducive to sustainable resource management.

Notable G&A Projects Addressing Land Degradation

Observatoire du Sahara et du Sahel (OSS)

The Observatoire du Sahara et du Sahel (OSS), based in Tunisia, leads a project in North Africa involving eight regional partners. 

Tools and Research for Sustainable Soil Management

This project has established a continental-scale land degradation monitoring service, accessible via a web platform called MISLAND-Africa and developed in collaboration with the African private sector. The platform, still under development, offers geoservices and mapping tools. A simplified version designed for smartphones expands access to products and services related to agriculture, water, and land degradation, supporting sustainable natural resource management in Africa.

Beyond the development of MISLAND-Africa, the OSS oversees academic research on the use of Earth observation (EO) for mapping land degradation. In this context, the OSS has developed an EO-based indicator kit aligned with the indicators and sub-indicators of SDG 15.3.1, enabling monitoring and reporting on land degradation neutrality in Africa. Additionally, the institution is to release a documentary book to provide a comprehensive perspective on land degradation challenges across the continent.

Awareness and Capacity Building

The OSS also plays a crucial role in raising awareness and providing training. More than 300 experts and decision-makers have been trained on land degradation issues and the tools developed within the GMES & Africa framework. These trainings aim to enhance understanding and utilization of solutions for combating desertification.

The OSS regularly collaborates with high-level stakeholders, such as the Director General of Water Resources (DGWR), the Libyan Agricultural Research Center (ARC), the Libyan Cereal Production Authority (CPA), and Tunisia’s Minister of Agriculture. These partnerships aim to promote and integrate EO-based technologies into national and regional land management strategies.

Regional and International Mobilization

The OSS organizes events at various scales to foster dialogue and knowledge exchange on land degradation. Among these initiatives, the International Conference on Land Degradation, held from June 27 to 29, brought together numerous regional and international actors, enhancing coordination and cooperation efforts.

Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD)

The Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) offers an advanced service for monitoring and evaluating land degradation, actively involving the African private sector in its development and deployment. This service provides land degradation index maps, accessible through an online platform. Based on modeling the key drivers of land degradation using satellite imagery, it identifies severity levels and highlights hotspots. In addition, an innovative tool assesses the socio-economic impacts of land and wetland degradation, analyzing how these challenges affect local communities.

An Innovative Platform for Targeted Solutions

The data used for this service is sourced from a variety of providers, including the ESA Climate Change Initiative – Land Cover Project, Copernicus Global Land Service, Climate Hazard Groups (Rainfall Erosivity), the RCMRD Geoportal, IIASA, WorldPop from the University of Southampton, and the FAO. These data are processed using specialized software and the Impact Toolbox from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. The RCMRD also collaborates with the GeoLDN initiative to develop tools aimed at achieving land degradation neutrality in line with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Meeting Users’ Specific Needs

The products and services developed by the RCMRD are tailored to meet the specific needs of users. For instance, in Kenya, the Directorate of Resource Survey and Remote Sensing (DRSRS) uses land degradation maps to identify degraded areas as part of the government’s "Jaza Miti" initiative, which aims to rehabilitate these areas through large-scale tree planting. Thanks to the accuracy of these maps, the cost of field surveys, which previously amounted to approximately 8 million Kenyan shillings per year, has been significantly reduced. This precision enabled the planting of around 15 billion trees across Kenya’s 47 counties, while increasing the frequency of government assessments for rehabilitating degraded areas. Two national tree-planting days were organized in the first half of 2024.

Another example involves South Sudan, where the Ministry of Environment and Forestry benefited from the COLWED (Cost of Land and Wetland Degradation) tool, developed by the RCMRD in partnership with Geospatial Research International (GRI). This tool processes Earth observation data using GIS methods and provides assessments highlighting the ecosystem services of wetlands such as Sudd, including carbon storage, biodiversity conservation, flood control, nutrient retention, water storage, and wastewater treatment. COLWED is available across several platforms, including QGIS (plugins), ArcGIS (modeling tools), and a standalone application. 

Training and Capacity building

Since the start of the second phase of the GMES & Africa programme, nearly 400 individuals have been trained on tools and challenges related to land degradation through both in-person and virtual sessions. A WhatsApp group has also been established to foster exchanges among users. 

A Continental Network of Expertise and A Community with Potential for Addressing Land Degradation

To further strengthen the fight against land degradation, the OSS established the Joint Implementation Network (JIN) for Monitoring Land Degradation in Africa, a network of over 276 experts and scientists. This network supports the development, validation, and operationalization of the MISLAND-Africa platform, helping to maximize its impact across the continent.

In parallel, the RCMRD is strengthening its regional cooperation with other GMES & Africa consortia, notably the Observatoire du Sahara et du Sahel (OSS) and the Centre de Suivi Écologique (CSE). These collaborations, formalized in February 2023 through a memorandum of understanding, aim to develop more effective services while fostering regional synergies. 

Finally, GMES & Africa represents a diverse community of institutions and individuals made of almost 200 entities; While some are explicitly and contractually engaged in the management, monitoring, or research of land degradation, with missions, structures, or projects directly tied to this field, many others can play a complementary role. 

Organizations such as basin authorities (e.g., VBA, ZAMCOM) or remote sensing research centers (e.g., CURAT, LCRSSS) operate in areas where land degradation is a cross-cutting issue. Although not exclusively focused on this topic, their work in natural resource management and environmental monitoring makes them valuable contributors.

Lastly, certain entities, such as ministries of environment or academic centers (e.g., Makerere University, ESSTI), have the expertise and infrastructure necessary to develop or enhance activities in this domain.

More information and contacts 

• M Evence Louis Zoungrana, Observatoire du Sahara et du Sahel (OSS), G&A Project manager, louis.zoungrana[at]oss.org.tn
• M Joseph Murage, Regional Centre for Mapping and Resources Development (RCMRD), G&A Project Manager, jmurage[at]rcmrd.org
• https://www.fao.org/world-soil-day