Pixels, Policies and People Geo-Intelligence for Climate-Resilient Land-Use Futures in Eswatini

Seminar
This event has now finished.
  • Date and time: Wednesday 25 June 2025, 1pm to 3pm
  • Location: In-person and online
    ENV/106, Environment Building, Campus West, University of York (Map)
  • Audience: Open to staff, students (postgraduate researchers only)
  • Admission: Free admission, booking required

Event details

Join us for the second of our YESI - C3SR Joint Seminar Series: Global Perspectives on Climate Change and Sustainability with Dr Wisdom Mdumiseni Dabulizwe Dlamini, Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Research, University of Eswatini.

  • 13:00 - 14:00 Seminar & Questions
  • 14:00 - 15:00 Refreshments (afternoon tea) and informal discussion 

Abstract

Eswatini’s land-use mosaic is shifting rapidly under the combined pressures of urban expansion, agricultural intensification, and a warming climate. This talk illustrates how high-resolution Earth-observation data, cloud-based analytics, and emerging GeoAI methods are being integrated to inform national planning and Paris-Agreement reporting. I will present:

  1. Three decades of land-use/land-cover trajectories (1990-2025) derived from Google Earth Engine, highlighting forest-to-cropland conversions and their implications for the LULUCF greenhouse-gas inventory.

  2. Fuelwood-demand hotspot modelling, which couples census demographics, road-network traffic, and Hansen Global Forest Change data to pinpoint areas of acute biomass pressure.

  3. Translating spatial evidence into policies for climate-smart agriculture, nature-based solutions, and restoration in priority chiefdoms.

The session will close with reflections on scaling these approaches—through interdisciplinary collaboration and capacity-building—to advance Eswatini’s climate-resilience agenda and inspire similar efforts across southern Africa.

Speaker Bio

Dr Wisdom Mdumiseni Dabulizwe Dlamini, Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Research, University of Eswatini

Head shot photo of Dr. Wisdom Mdumiseni Dabulizwe Dlamini, wearing a patterned shirt

Dr. Wisdom Mdumiseni Dabulizwe Dlamini is a seasoned environmental scientist and computational geographer with over 20 years of experience in climate change, spatial data science, environmental modelling, and human-environment interactions. His previous leadership roles include Director of Nature Conservation and National Parks in Eswatini and International Coordinator for the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area. His research covers climate change science, natural hazards, ecological modelling, and AI applications, and he has worked with organizations like UNEP, UNICEF, and the World Bank. He serves in several professional bodies, including as Vice-President of the Eswatini Academy of Sciences, and has published extensively on climate and environmental science.