Abstract
The Kenyan ASALs (Arid and Semi-Arid Lands) through livestock
production, contribute to over 12% of the 40% Agricultural GDP with
further contribution through the tourism sector. They cover over 70% of
the country and are home to both wildlife and pastoral communities. With
dependence on rain-fed pastures, better management of the ASALs require
near real time information on available resources. While information on
vegetation conditions is important, other critical resources such as
location of water, extent of unpalatable invasive species and other
ancillary information is required for a comprehensive understanding of
the condition of the ASALs. The Rangelands Decision Support tool was
developed to address lack timely information for decision making in the
ASALs which influences management of available pastures in dry and wet
seasons, development of proper grazing plans, livestock movement,
conflicts and implementation of conservation measures meant to
rehabilitate degraded lands, management of scarce water resources and
mitigation of the spread of invasive species. The tool automates data
processing from acquisition to development of final products that
consist of dekadal NDVI and monthly products (NDVI Z score, absolute
anomalies and VCI (Vegetation Condition Index)). Users are able to
select suitable products for specific assessment and produce maps at
their monitoring units in PDF format. This research present a fully
operational processing chain for the data incorporated in the tool and
case studies demonstrating application of the different indicators for
monitoring at different monitoring units.