Project

The climate effects of land restoration in Africa

To combat widespread land degradation, several land restoration initiatives have emerged across Africa, aiming to decrease or even reverse problems like erosion or biodiversity losses. The resulting increase in vegetation cover can affect land-atmosphere interactions and therefore the local climate. This project aims to maximize the positive climate effects of land restoration projects in Africa through analysis of satellite observations and atmospheric modelling.

Introduction

As a reaction to ongoing pressures we put on ecosystems and communities, many land restoration projects have emerged over the past years. These projects aim to increase biodiversity, combat land degradation or contribute climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration. The increase in vegetation cover resulting from the projects alters several biophysical properties of the landscape, such as albedo or surface roughness, which can cause changes in temperature and precipitation. This means land restoration can affect the local climate in a very direct way. Yet, it is largely unknow how land restoration across Africa can be used to adapt to climate change.

Objective

The aim of this PhD project is to determine biophysical climate effects of land restoration in Africa, in order to develop design guidelines for maximum positive climate effects of land restoration projects. To this end, the project is divided into four research objectives.

  1. Describe the effects of land restoration projects on observed changes in vegetation cover.
  2. Determine the spatiotemporal effect of restoration induced vegetation changes on the local temperature.
  3. Determine the effect of restoration induced vegetation changes on cloud cover.
  4. Create land restoration design guidelines that maximize the positive effects on the regional climate.

Method

The research will be carried out using both satellite observations and atmospheric modelling. Satellite data is used to compare observed changes in vegetation cover with climate variables such as temperature, albedo and cloud cover on a continental scale. This is extended with several modelling case studies to obtain more insight into the underlying physical processes as well as variables that are more difficult to observe with satellite imagery.

(Expected) results

This research will increase our knowledge on land-atmosphere interactions across Africa, with a focus on land restoration projects. Through this, we can provide guidelines for designing land restoration projects in order to optimize positive local climate effects.

Publications

Ruijsch, J., Teuling, A. J., Verbesselt, J., & Hutjes, R. W. (2023). Landscape restoration and greening in Africa. Environmental Research Letters, 18(6), 064020. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acd395