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LILIAN NDUNGU

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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.