Though a lot has been done and achieved in erosion research and control in Kenya, most of the erosion research methods have in the past put emphasis more on quantifying soil loss or measuring soil erosion, rather than pinpointing to areas that are likely to suffer soil erosion. In most cases the erosion processes have been assumed to occur in a uniform manner at all levels of the landscape hierarchy, and hence the results of one level observation can be factored to cover other levels for which data was not collected.

Healthy soils are essential for productive and resilient agricultural systems. They are also increasingly recognized as a means to mitigate climate change risks. While solutions for restoring degraded soils and landscapes do exist, improved knowledge and tools are needed to enhance their impacts over time and at scale. WLE has assessed the impacts of various land restoration initiatives and developed a range of tools to better tailor and target investments and interventions to local contexts.

In sub-Saharan Africa, intensification of agriculture and rational use of arable land are essential for long-term growth (Gros, 1979, Johnston, 1990, Oluf et al., 990). Extensive cultivation methods and the population explosion are pushing the limits of cultivated land every day; deforestation accelerates; the productive capacity of the land is reduced

In the United States 20% of privately owned rangelands are vulnerable to accelerated soil loss. Estimated annual costs of direct and indirect damage caused by soil erosion in the United States is $27 billion dollars. More than 50% of Asia and 70% of Middle Eastern rangelands are degraded. Exact estimates of economic costs and total area degraded is unknown; however, costs may be significantly higher than in the United States due to the extent of degradation/desertification in these regions.

Recognizing successful climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices is not enough for them to be adopted at scale.

At many sites, government or development-led interventions to promote CSA practices face low adoption rates or are not adopted at all.

Data shows that CSA adoption depends on drivers and constraints beyond the CSA practices. Blanket adoption of a specific intervention should never be assumed: the adoption of CSA practices is usually patchy because of many conditions.

The Department of Human Settlements reports that between 1994 and 2009, 2.94-million housing units and serviced sites have either been built or were under construction. By September 2010, 1.44-million of these properties were formally registered on the Deeds Registry. This means that about 50% of subsidy beneficiaries had not yet received formal title for their housing. Moreover, since 2005, the percentage of subsidy properties that have been formally registered per year has plummeted.

The World Bank in 2010/11 undertook an in-depth review of land governance and land policy in South Africa, with Urban LandMark managing the process and implementing a Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF) for South Africa.

This guide has been written as the first step towards concretising and standardising the process involved in the identification and assessment of well-located land for human settlement. The