Problem that technology is supposed to solve :

- Lack of methods for systematic landscape-level assessment of soil and ecosystem health
- Complexity of ecosystems, difficulty to understand ecosystem processes, and variability of ecological variables at different spatial scales
- Little knowledge about the state of ecosystems across Africa, including land cover and vegetation trends. 
 

Technical characteristics of the technology :

The LDSF was developed in response to the need for systematic and science-based assessment and monitoring of soil and ecosystem health at scale, using a robust and consistent indicator framework to:
- Assess of variability of and conduct a rapid assessment of multiple variables across landscapes.
- Conduct robust statistical analysis on drivers of degradation and relationship between variables.
- Produce high quality maps of key indicators.
- Set a baseline that can be used to monitor changes over time.

Key indicators measured with LDSF are:
- Soil health variables (Organic carbon, soil Acidity, Total Nitrogen, base cations, soil texture).
- Land Management (land uses, land cover, soil and water conservation).
- Land degradation (soil erosion prevalence, root-depth restrictions).
- Soil Hydrology (Infiltration capacity).
- Vegetation assessment (tree, shrub density, biodiversity).

Economic characteristics of the technology

- Acquisition cost :

Innovative and cost-effective method for evaluating and monitoring landscape degradation.

- Economic profitability :

Innovative and cost-effective method for evaluating and monitoring landscape degradation.

- Comparative advantage :

LDSF measures multiple indicators at the same geo-referenced location.

Limits of the technology :

Availability of qualify resource staff for quality data collection and analysis.