Digital Earth Africa (DE Africa) presented at the International and Country Dialogue on Climate-Smart Range Management 2023 in Lesotho from 23-24 May 2023. With a theme entitled Sustainable Use of Rangeland Resources for Improved Livelihoods in the Era of Climate Change, the two day dialogue hosted by the Wool and Mohair Promotion Project under the Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and Nutrition in Maseru, provided an opportunity for exchange of experiences and foster partnerships between a wide range of actors and stakeholders on how to advance climate-smart management of communal rangelands, including the state of range management in Lesotho and lessons learnt from the Wool and Mohair Promotion Project (WAMPP). WAMPP was designed to boost resilience to the adverse of effects of climate change and economic shocks among poor rural people in Lesotho and funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
DE Africa’s Capacity Development Lead, Dr Kenneth Mubea, presented a keynote address on the use of earth observation to assess and monitor rangelands, which is vital for informing grazing strategies, identifying degraded areas early and monitoring whole ecosystems, and showcased examples including combining the power of Digital Earth Africa and local knowledge for planned grazing management in Northern Kenya, highlighting managing pastures in uncertain times of climate change. DE Africa showed examples of managing pastures in Maluba Lube grazing areas, presenting a time-series of a remote sensing vegetation indices, namely, Normalised Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Indices (EVI), phenology statistics and results obtained in terms of animated plots to inform rangeland management.
The dialogue attracted participants from International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), FAO Lesotho, National University of Lesotho (NUL), Zimbabwe- Matopos Research Institute, Environmental and Rural Solutions-South Africa, Department of Soil and Water Conservation (DOC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Agroforestry (ICRAF), Department of Forestry-Lesotho, Global Water Partnership (GWP), Waternet Lesotho, Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB), and National Farmers Associations.
DE Africa continues with its mission of empowering countries across Africa with Earth observation data to enable climate adaptation and mitigation, greater food security and more sustainable development.
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