Land degradation poses a significant global challenge, affecting vast areas of the world's land and impacting billions of people. Maintaining the land’s ability to provide vital ecosystem services is essential for global food security and climate mitigation. However, land degradation drives us in the opposite direction. Kenya is particularly vulnerable to degradation, making it essential to focus on the rangelands, which comprise over 83% of its land area and support more than 70% of its livestock. Due to widespread land degradation, Kenyan pastoralists, who depend heavily on the productivity of the rangelands, face significant difficulties in providing adequate fodder for their livestock. Nevertheless, degraded land can be restored, and it is crucial to implement restoration interventions on a larger scale to reverse land degradation. Monitoring the impacts of land restoration is essential to carry out evidence-based restoration efforts and effectively halt land degradation.

This study assessed the impact of land restoration efforts initiated in 2021 following the establishment of two "Livestock Cafés" in northwest Kenya. The Livestock Cafés initiative is designed to restore degraded land while supporting local pastoral communities. The study applied remote sensing and statistical modeling to monitor changes in three key indicators of land health: soil organic carbon, erosion, and vegetation cover. The findings revealed positive effects of the restoration interventions, including enhanced soil organic carbon and vegetation cover and reduced rates of severe erosion. The results also indicate worsening land health outside the Livestock Cafés, highlighting the serious land degradation challenges in the region. These findings support a wider adoption of the restoration methods applied within the Livestock Cafés to combat land degradation in similar contexts.