Global Geo-informatics Options by Context (GeOC) Tool for Supporting Better Targeting and Scaling-out of Sustainable Land Management: Designing the System and Use Cases

Abstract

Sustainable Land Management (SLM) are required to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). SLM options are fitted to the social, economic and ecological contexts. The high contextual diversity of drylands in particular prevents the design and application of “uniform blanket” policies to promote SLM over large scales where significant impact is expected. To address this challenge the CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems (CRP-DS) has initiated a web-based geoinformatic tool for overviewing, comparative assessing and co-learning SLM options fitted to the social-ecological context at global, regional and national scales. This Global Geo-informatic Options by Context (GeOC) tool aims to support the implementation of SLM practices by the local and international communities and to help countries report on their commitments to achieving LDN via the UNCCD and Sustainable Development Goal 15. This working paper presents the concepts and technical frameworks designing the GeOC and its typical use cases. The GeOC tool is designed to provide land users, projects/programmes and policy decision-makers with plausible, robust extrapolation domains for guiding decisions on the selection and use of SLM options, and an open platform for docking different disciplinary projects into integrative/holistic and converging actions for promoting SLM at scale. It integrates standardized SLM databases such as WOCAT with spatially explicit data on socio-ecological drivers and impacts of land use/management practices to derive plausible soil and water conservation options across different contexts. The tool is based on a systems framework, is scientifically sound and able to cope with the high level of contextual diversity. It can improve linkages among different scales and kinds of data that are essential for SLM implementation, evaluation and out-scaling. By offering common use functions, it is easy-to-use with multiple languages and is an interoperable online tool. It is flexible to allow for continuous improvements and customizations. Its utility is increased by our use-case approach that provides multiple entry points for diverse needs and preferences of users. A typical use-case is a sequence of limited steps that describes the interactions between a typical user and the information system to accomplish a typical goal. We designed three typical use cases of the tool: (1) searching for implemented SLM options within a user-defined context, (2) searching similar contexts for a given SLM option, and (3) evaluation of land degradation/improvement by context that would be important for assessing gaps in achieving LDN.