Increased soil erosion is one of the main drivers of land degradation in East Africa’s agricultural and pastoral landscapes. This wicked problem is rooted in historic disruptions to co-adapted agro-pastoral systems. Introduction of agricultural growth policies by centralised governance resulted in temporal and spatial scale mismatches with the complex and dynamic East African environment, which subsequently contributed to soil exhaustion, declining fertility and increased soil erosion. Coercive policies of land use, privatisation, sedentarisation, exclusion and marginalisation led to a gradual erosion of the indigenous social and economic structures. Combined with the inability of the new nation-states to provide many of the services necessary for (re)developing the social and economic domains, many communities are lacking key components enabling sustainable adaptation to changing internal and external shocks and pressures. Exemplary is the absence of growth in agricultural productivity and livelihood options outside of agriculture, which prohibits the absorption of an increasing population and pushes communities towards overexploitation of natural resources. This further increases social and economic pressures on ecosystems, locking agro-pastoral systems in a downward spiral of degradation. For the development and implementation of sustainable land management plans to be sustainable, authorities need to take the complex drivers of increased soil erosion into consideration. Examples from sustainable intensification responses to the demands of population increase, demonstrate that the integrity of locally adapted systems needs to be protected, but not isolated, from external pressures. Communities have to increase productivity and diversify their economy by building upon, not abandoning, existing linkages between the social, economic and natural domains. Locally adapted management practices need to be integrated in regional, national and supra-national institutions. A nested political and economic framework, wherein local communities are able to access agricultural technologies and state services, is a key prerequisite towards regional development of sustainable agro-pastoral systems that safeguard soil health, food and livelihood security.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is widely recognised as pivotal in soil function, exerting important controls on soil structure, moisture retention, nutrient cycling and biodiversity, which in turn underpins a range of provisioning, supporting and regulatory ecosystem services. SOC stocks in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are threatened by changes in land practice and climatic factors, which destabilises the soil system and resilience to continued climate change. Here, we provide a review of the role of SOC in overall soil health and the challenges and opportunities associated with maintaining and building SOC stocks in SSA. As an exemplar national case, we focus on Tanzania where we provide context under research for the “Jali Ardhi” (Care for the Land) Project. The review details (i) the role of SOC in soil systems; (ii) sustainable land management (SLM) techniques for maintaining and building SOC; (iii) barriers (environmental, economic and social) to SLM implementation; and (iv) opportunities for overcoming barriers to SLM adoption. We provide evidence for the importance of site-specific characterisation of the biophysicochemical and socio-economic context for effective climate adaptation. In particular, we highlight the importance of SOC pools for soil function and the need for practitioners to consider the type of biomass returns to the soil to achieve healthy, balanced systems. In line with the need for local-scale site characterisation we discuss the use of established survey protocols alongside opportunities to complement these with recent technologies, such as rapid in situ scanning tools and aerial surveys. We discuss how these tools can be used to improve soil health assessments and develop critical understanding of landscape connectivity and the management of shared resources under co-design strategies.

Soil resources in East Africa are being rapidly depleted by erosion, threatening food, water and livelihood security in the region. Here we demonstrate how the integration of evidence from natural and social sciences has supported a community‐led change in land management in an agro‐pastoral community in northern Tanzania. Geospatial analysis of erosion risk and extent (based on a drone survey across a 3.6 km² sub‐catchment) revealed that recently converted land had ca 12‐times greater rill density than established slow‐forming terraced plots (987 ± 840 m² ha⁻¹ vs. 79 ± 110 m² ha⁻¹). Slope length and connectivity between plots were key factors in the development of rill networks rather than slope per se wherein slope length was augmented by weak boundaries between newly formed plots. Erosion evidence, supported by communication of 'process' and 'structural' hydrological connectivity, was integrated with local environmental knowledge within participatory community workshops. Demonstration of the critical time window of hillslope‐scale rill erosion risk during early phases of slow‐forming terrace development catalysed a community‐led tree planting and grass seed sowing programme to mitigate soil erosion by water. This was grounded in an implicit farmer understanding of the need for effective governance mechanisms at both community and District levels, to enable community‐led actions to be implemented effectively. The study demonstrates the wide‐reaching impact of integrated and interdisciplinary 'upslope‐downslope' thinking to tackle global soil erosion challenges.