Land degradation neutrality state and progress in the Central Region, Malawi
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Land and Water Resources, Faculty of Life Sciences and Natural Resources, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lilongwe, Malawi
- 2Ndata School of Climate and Earth Sciences, Malawi University of Science and Technology, Limbe, Malawi
- 3Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Lilongwe, Malawi
- 4Department of Water and Sanitation, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Mzuzu University, Mzuzu, Malawi
- 5Stockholm Environment Institute, World Agroforestry Centre, United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, Nairobi, Kenya
Abstract
Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) is vital for the long-term sustainability of human well-being and the realisation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15.3.1. We estimated the overall indicator of SDG 15.3.1, the proportion of land that is degraded over the total land area in the Central Region, Malawi, from 2001 to 2022, using the Trends.Earth tool in QGIS. The study applied the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Good Practice Guidance methodology for SDG Indicator 15.3.1 assessment, integrating land cover, land productivity, and soil organic carbon (SOC) sub-indicators. The default datasets in the Trends.Earth plugin were adopted for all sub-indicators. The study has revealed that: (i) The proportion of degraded land increased from 26.8% in the baseline period (2001–2015) to 41.2% in the monitoring period (2016–2022). Stable land area decreased from 62.2% to 55.7%, while improved land area declined from 10.0% to 2.0%. Overall, during the entire study period (2001–2022), 27.1% of the land remained degraded, 62.4% was stable, and 9.4% improved. (ii) Land with degraded productivity significantly declined from 74.5% to 29.3%. In contrast, land with stable productivity slightly increased from 1.1% to 1.9%. (iii) SOC levels remained largely stable (>97%), although slight losses occurred in cropland, grassland, and wetland areas. (iv) Land cover remained predominantly stable (96.7%) throughout the study period. The overall SDG 15.3.1 indicator indicates continued degradation trends exceeding the rate of land recovery and restoration. This study has highlighted key spatial patterns and identified insights into the priority areas for targeted LDN interventions in the Central Region of Malawi. The findings provide critical evidence for guiding sustainable land management strategies and accelerating progress toward achieving land degradation neutrality in Malawi.
Related
- Region-Aware Degradation-Conditioned Vision-Language Learning for Blind Image-Quality Assessment of Power Field-Operation Imagery
- The ultrastructure of subarachnoid trabeculae in non-human primates varies by tissue region within the central nervous system
- Habitat preferences of three grasshopper species of the Chorthippus biguttulus group (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in the Kaluga Region, central European Russia
- The 6G integrated perception and networking technology enables the low-altitude economy to achieve carbon neutrality: Dynamic sleep strategy for eVTOL wireless charging based on time-energy-carbon coupling
- Large inversions in Lake Malawi cichlids are associated with habitat, lineage, and sex determination
BibTeX
@article{nazombe2026land,
title = {{Land degradation neutrality state and progress in the Central Region, Malawi}},
author = {Kennedy Sones Nazombe and Charles Bakolo and Brighton A. Chunga and Principal Mdolo and Jean Mtethiwa and Rodrick Mlewa and Kennedy Adamson and Devie Chilonga and Kelvin Chomanika},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0362061},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0362061},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Land degradation neutrality state and progress in the Central Region, Malawi
AU - Kennedy Sones Nazombe
AU - Charles Bakolo
AU - Brighton A. Chunga
AU - Principal Mdolo
AU - Jean Mtethiwa
AU - Rodrick Mlewa
AU - Kennedy Adamson
AU - Devie Chilonga
AU - Kelvin Chomanika
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/05
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0362061
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0362061
AB - Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) is vital for the long-term sustainability of human well-being and the realisation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15.3.1. We estimated the overall indicator of SDG 15.3.1, the proportion of land that is degraded over the total land area in the Central Region, Malawi, from 2001 to 2022, using the Trends.Earth tool in QGIS. The study applied the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Good Practice Guidance methodology for SDG Indicator 15.3.1 assessment, integrating land cover, land productivity, and soil organic carbon (SOC) sub-indicators. The default datasets in the Trends.Earth plugin were adopted for all sub-indicators. The study has revealed that: (i) The proportion of degraded land increased from 26.8% in the baseline period (2001–2015) to 41.2% in the monitoring period (2016–2022). Stable land area decreased from 62.2% to 55.7%, while improved land area declined from 10.0% to 2.0%. Overall, during the entire study period (2001–2022), 27.1% of the land remained degraded, 62.4% was stable, and 9.4% improved. (ii) Land with degraded productivity significantly declined from 74.5% to 29.3%. In contrast, land with stable productivity slightly increased from 1.1% to 1.9%. (iii) SOC levels remained largely stable (>97%), although slight losses occurred in cropland, grassland, and wetland areas. (iv) Land cover remained predominantly stable (96.7%) throughout the study period. The overall SDG 15.3.1 indicator indicates continued degradation trends exceeding the rate of land recovery and restoration. This study has highlighted key spatial patterns and identified insights into the priority areas for targeted LDN interventions in the Central Region of Malawi. The findings provide critical evidence for guiding sustainable land management strategies and accelerating progress toward achieving land degradation neutrality in Malawi.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -