Spatially explicit and multiscale ecosystem shift probabilities and risk severity assessments in the greater Mekong subregion over three decades.

Ecosystem functioning and related risks could become compromised by climate change and severely affect livestock in different ways. Based on four climate indices (i.e.

Implementation outcomes of national decentralization of integrated outpatient services for severe non-communicable diseases to district hospitals in Rwanda.

Objectives: Effective coverage of non-communicable disease (NCD) care in sub-Saharan Africa remains low, with the majority of services still largely restricted to central referral centres. Between 2015 and 2017, the Rwandan Ministry of Health implemented a strategy to decentralise outpatient care for severe chronic NCDs, including type 1 diabetes, heart failure and severe hypertension, to rural first-level hospitals. This study describes the facility-level implementation outcomes of this strategy.

Estimating landslides vulnerability in Rwanda using analytic hierarchy process and geographic information system.

Landslides are among hazards that undermine the social, economic, and environmental well-being of the vulnerable community. Assessment of landslides vulnerability reveals the damages that could be recorded, estimates the severity of the impact, and increases the preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation as well. This study aims to estimate landslides vulnerability for the western province of Rwanda.

Spatial and temporal characteristics of droughts in Central Asia during 1966-2015.

In drought-prone regions like Central Asia, drought monitoring studies are paramount to provide valuable information for drought risk mitigation. In this paper, the spatiotemporal drought characteristics in Central Asia are analyzed from 1966 to 2015 using the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) dataset. Drought events, as well as their frequency, duration, severity, intensity and preferred season, are studied by using the Run theory and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) at 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month timescales.

Vegetation dynamics and responses to climate change and human activities in Central Asia.

Knowledge of the current changes and dynamics of different types of vegetation in relation to climatic changes and anthropogenic activities is critical for developing adaptation strategies to address the challenges posed by climate change and human activities for ecosystems. Based on a regression analysis and the Hurst exponent index method, this research investigated the spatial and temporal characteristics and relationships between vegetation greenness and climatic factors in Central Asia using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and gridded high-resolution station (land) data for the period 1984-2013. Further analysis distinguished between the effects of climatic change and those of human activities on vegetation dynamics by means of a residual analysis trend method.

USLE-Based Assessment of Soil Erosion by Water in the Nyabarongo River Catchment, Rwanda.

Soil erosion has become a serious problem in recent decades due to unhalted trends of unsustainable land use practices. Assessment of soil erosion is a prominent tool in planning and conservation of soil and water resource ecosystems. The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was applied to Nyabarongo River Catchment that drains about 8413.