Blogs

  By Dr.Peter Alele as part of the Beyond.Uptake Fellowship

Soil fertility refers to the ability of a soil to sustain agricultural plant growth, to provide plant habitat and result in sustained and consistent yields of high quality. One indicator of soil fertility is C:N ratio –the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio.

In October 2017, Vital Signs together with the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies and National Aeronautics and Space Administration held a capacity building workshop for the Global Environment Facility(GEF) Land Degradation Monitoring toolbox in Morogoro, Tanzania.

The Vital signs team in Uganda led by the Africa Innovations Institute hosted the President of Conservation International (CI) Jennifer Morris last week. The President met with officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Uganda National Council on Science and Technology, and Makerere University College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. They discussed the state of play of data-driven decision making in Uganda and how Vital Signs data could be used to support the policy and decision making process.

Vital Signs held its third Community of Practice meeting in Nairobi from September 12th to 14th. The meeting brought together Vital signs partners from Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Tanzania to learn and share best practices and lessons from the Vital Signs Monitoring work at the national level.

By Robert Shaffer, Vital Signs Fellows &Scientists_DSSG 2017  ,Africa Innovations Institute,Tanzania Forest Conservation Group,Wildlife Conservation Society Rwanda,The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Ghan

Vital signs, (working with International Soil Reference and Information Center (ISRIC) has produced “high-resolution soil nutrient maps”  for Uganda, Tanzania Rwanda and Ghana.

By Robbert shaffer Vital Signs Fellows &Scientists_DSSG 2017  ,Africa Innovations Institute,Tanzania Forest Conservation Group,

In July 2017, Vital Signs together with the Gaborone Declaration for Sustainability(GDSA) and Conservation International held a workshop on how nature contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

By Cara Arizmendi, Vital Signs Fellows &Scientists_DSSG 2017  ,Africa Innovations Institute,Tanzania Forest Conservation Group,Wildlife Conservation Society Rwanda