As part of the ongoing ELD initiative, the ‘Impact evaluation of SLM options’-project aims to value current land use strategies and feasible alternatives in economic terms, in order to promote more sustainable land management that is also in line with national development goals. Therefore, the projects aims to develop a user-friendly, interoperable online GeoCOs (Global Geoinformatics Context and Options) tool to enable stakeholders to query SLM options in different context in order to assess potential impact for applying options in time and space. The tool requires a country-specific, accessible knowledge base of standardized, geo-referenced SLM options-by-context. This database will be established by identifying, describing and analyzing existing, tested and adopted SLM options versus different socio-ecological contexts by meta-analysis of the state-of-the art literature and of systematically reviewing and cataloguing existing and completed projects in target countries having an impact in terms of SLM options and lessons learned. Besides, the project wants to accomplish a detailed spatial mapping of the pre and post impact of at least 10% of completed SLM inventory. Both the description of the existing SLM techniques and projects as the impact assessment will be according to standardized, geo-referenced protocols. Hence, the dataset and impact assessment of the tested SLMs can be embedded in the web-based GeoCOs tool. In times of rapid development of multi-dimensionally, multi-scale, timely updated socio-ecological geo-date, the options-by-context knowledge database and online impact assessment tool will enable the assesment of potential impacts of SLM in time and space . Via the web-based GeoCOs (Global Geoinformatics Context and Options) platform, effective decision-making of stakeholders infolved with food production systems is encouraged. The platform allows NARS to acquire knowledge and tools to set standards and approaches to achieve land degradation neutrality and allows stakeholders at country level able to plan strategic interventions and steer foreign aid based on historical and current data of interventions. Policy Makers are able to prioritize interventions based on planned outcomes in terms of sustainable land management and livelihoods. The project is a response to the demand from countries for help to implement land degradation neutrality, sustainable production systems and viable livelihoods under their obligations to the UNCCD and UN SDGs by increasing the capacity of beneficiaries to adopt research outputs. Further, the project contributes to CGIAR SRF Cross-Cutting IDOs ‘Capacity development’ since it will enhance the individual capacity in the NARS through training and exchange.
