This training workshop has been organized with an aim to increase awareness and to build capacity of stakeholders on the applications and use of the COLWED (Cost of Land and Wetland Degradation), an earth observation-based tool, a purpose for sustainable socioeconomic valuation of natural resources, to support monitoring as well as restore of degraded ecosystems by informing policy intervention processes at regional and national levels.

The main objective of this training is to provide hands on experience on the implementation of socioeconomic valuation of ecosystems.

The goal overall of the training is to disseminate information and to transfer technology to professionals in the private sector, academia, government, students and any other interested parties on the developed Earth observation-based tool for use in socioeconomic evaluation of processes of degraded lands and wetlands.

The specific objectives are;

i. To build capacity on practical methodologies for the assessment and evaluation of ecosystem services from degraded lands and wetlands with an ultimate goal to assist in policy formulation, the planning and implementation of interventions for sustainable ecosystem management, and/or restoration of degraded land and wetland ecosystems.

(ii) To demonstrate, through practical sessions, the application of this tool for the evaluation of ecosystem services and the scope for incorporating these values into improved and responsive decision-making processes.

(iii). To help decision-makers and stake holders appreciate the true value of nature, and the consequences of loss and degradation of natural ecosystems