Felicia O. Akinyemi

Felicia O. Akinyemi is an Associate Professor in Geomatics at Department of Environmental and Life Sciences, Karlstad University, Sweden. Felicia has expertise in ecological Remote Sensing, Land Degradation and Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) in Social-Ecological Systems — how land system change relates to degrading processes in coupled human-natural systems over multidecadal timescales. A lead author of two UNCCD assessments: Sustainable Land Use Systems: The path to collectively achieving Land Degradation Neutrality and Integrated land use planning and integrated landscape management. She leads efforts in developing Remote Sensing-based metrics for operationalizing the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) target (SDG 15.3) and the corresponding SDG indicator 15.3.1 that aims to estimate the proportion of degraded land over the total land area. Frameworks for assessing LDN, including the mapping of annual land cover have been developed for several countries, including Switzerland, Nigeria and Botswana. Current research examines how agricultural land use change affects the resilience of Smallholder farming systems. Her work contributes to expert groups such as the Science Policy Interface group of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD-SPI); Taskforce on Scenarios and Models, Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Scenarios-based Model Intercomparison work group (BES SIM2); a founding member, European Geosciences Union Biodiversity Task Force; Member, Commission on Ecosystem Management of the IUCN; and Fellow, Alexander von Humboldt Research Network.
Recent contributions include:

• Akinyemi FO, Graw V. 2026. Two decades of agricultural drought impacts: Remote sensing insights into vegetation productivity and phenological change in semi arid Botswana. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 198, article 188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-026-14996-w

• Iheaturu, C. J., Curatola Fernández, G. F., Wingate, V. R., Akinyemi, F. O., Okolie, C. J., & Ifejika Speranza, C. (2026). Remote sensing of tropical forest recovery: A review and decision-support framework for multi-sensor integration. Remote Sensing of Environment, 335, 115257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2026.115257

• Rufin P, Meyfroidt P, Akinyemi FO, Estes L, Ibrahim ES, Jain M, Kerner H, Lisboa SN, Lobell D, Nakalembe C, Persello C, Picoli MCA, Ribeiro N, Sitoe AA, Waha K, Wang S. 2025. Accelerating research on SDG 2 “Zero Hunger” by opening commercial very-high-resolution satellite image archives. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 122 (7) e2410246122. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2410246122

• Akinyemi FO, Ifejika Speranza C. 2025. Land transformation across agroecological zones reveals expanding cropland and settlement at the expense of tree-cover and wetland areas in Nigeria. Geo-spatial Information Science. 28 (3), 945 https://doi.org/10.1080/10095020.2024.2362759

• Iheaturu CJ, Akinyemi FO, Wingate V, Tabi Eckebil PP, Ifejika Speranza C. 2025. Combining remote sensing with local knowledge is vital for understanding forest change in West Africa. Sci Rep 15, 38094. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-23133-5

• Tabi Eckebil PP, Mintah F, Bürgi M, Akinyemi FO, Sonwa DJ, Ifejika Speranza, C. 2025. Tropical ecosystem multifunctionality assessment and insights for sustainable land management: A systematic literature review using the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Responses Framework. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2025.1623266

• Iheaturu CJ, Wingate VR, Akinyemi FO, Ifejika Speranza C. 2025. An integrated object-based sampling approach for validating non-contiguous forest cover maps in fragmented tropical landscapes. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, Volume 139, 104497, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2025.104497

• Ifejika Speranza C, Iheaturu C, Frank Mintah, Kjelsen I., Hartmann R., Fitz J., Eckebil P.P.T, Agonvonon G.A., Fernández G.F.C., Wingate V.R., Hepner S., Agossou P., Akinyemi FO. 2025. Targeting agricultural land expansion across Africa: Pathways through effective nature protection, sustainable intensification, and strengthening land governance. In Agricultural Land Use: Structural Transformations, Environment Challenges, Planning and Policy. Bański J. (ed.), London: Routledge, vol. 1, p.199-213. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032672779-17 ISBN9781032672779

• Akinyemi FO. 2025. Remote sensing and geospatial methods for sustainable land systems. Habilitation thesis: Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Switzerland https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15120148

• Alibakhshi S, Akinyemi FO, Pricope NG, Almazroui M, Psilovikos A, Zhang, L, Elhag M. 2024. Water and energy dynamics in a disturbed ecosystem. Earth Systems and Environment. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-024-00498-7

• Frey F, Mohr F, Ruiz‐Aragón V, Akinyemi FO, Bürgi M. 2024. Agricultural irrigation development in Castilla y León (Spain): Driving forces and outcomes for landscape and sustainability in the 21st Century. Landscape Ecology 39, 193. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01977-y

• Iheaturu CJ, Hepner S, Batchelor JL, Agonvonon GA, Akinyemi FO, Wingate VR, Ifejika Speranza C. 2024. Integrating UAV LiDAR and multispectral data to assess forest status and map disturbance severity in a West African forest patch. Ecological Informatics 84, 102876 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102876

• Ekberzade B, Carrasco AR, Izdebski A, Sofo A, Larsen A, Akinyemi FO, Bruckman VJ, Baker N, Clark S, Hill C. 2024. Fostering transformative change for biodiversity restoration through transdisciplinary research Geosci. Commun., 7, 57–61, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-7-57-2024

• Sono P, Selepeng AT, Mizunaga H, Akinyemi FO. 2024. Geological mapping and mineral exploration in Francistown region, northeast Botswana from integration of ASTER TIR and Aeromagnetic data. Journal of African Earth Sciences 105270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2024.105270

• Bär V, Akinyemi FO, Ifejika Speranza C 2023. Land cover degradation in the reference and monitoring periods of the SDG Land Degradation Neutrality Indicator for Switzerland. Ecological Indicators 151, 110252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.110252

• Ifejika Speranza C, Akinyemi FO, Baratoux D, Benveniste J, Ceperley N, Driouech F, Helmschrot J. 2023. Enhancing the uptake of earth observation products and services in Africa through a multi-level transdisciplinary approach. Survey in Geophysics 44:7–41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-022-09724-1

• Wingate VR, Akinyemi FO, Ifejika Speranza C. 2023. Archetypes of remnant West African forest patches, their main characteristics and geographical distribution. Applied Geography 158, 103024. https://doi.org/10.1016/japgeog.2023.103024

· Akinyemi FO and Ifejika Speranza C. 2022. Agricultural landscape change impact on the quality of land: An African continent-wide assessment in gained and displaced agricultural lands. International Journal of Applied Earth Observations and Geoinformation 106:102644. doi:10.1016/j.jag.2021.102644

· Akinyemi FO, Ghazaryan G, Dubovyk O. 2021. Assessing UN indicators of Land Degradation Neutrality and proportion of degraded land over Botswana using Earth Observation/Remote Sensing based national level metrics. Land Degradation and Development. 32(1), 158-172. doi:10.1002/ldr.3695

· Akinyemi FO 2021. Vegetation trends, drought severity and land use-land cover change during the growing season in semi-arid contexts. Earth Observation/Remote Sensing 13:836 doi:10.3390/rs13050836

· Akinyemi FO, Tlhalerwa LT, Eze PN 2021. Land degradation assessment in an African dryland context based on the Composite Land Degradation Index and Mapping method. Geocarto International 36(16): 1838-1854. Taylor and Francis  doi: 10.1080/10106049.2019.1678673

· Akinyemi FO, Ikanyeng M, Muro J. 2020. Land cover change effects on land surface temperature trends in an African urbanizing dryland region. City and Environment Interactions. doi:10.1016/j.cacint.2020.100029

· Mhete M, Eze PN, Rahube TO, Akinyemi FO (2020). Soil properties influence bacterial abundance and diversity under different land-use regimes in semi-arid environments. Scientific African 7, e00246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sciaf.2019.e00246

· Akinyemi FO, Kgomo MO 2019. Vegetation dynamics in African drylands: An assessment based on the Vegetation Degradation Index in an agro-pastoral region of Botswana. Regional (subnational) Environmental Change 19(7), 2027-2039. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-019-01541-4  

· Akinyemi FO, Abiodun BJ 2019. Potential impacts of global warming levels 1.5oC and above on climate extremes in Botswana. Climatic Change 154, 387–400. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-019-02446-1

· Akinyemi FO, Mashame G 2018. Analysis of land change in the dryland agricultural landscapes of eastern Botswana. Land Use Policy 76:798-811. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.03.010

· Akinyemi FO 2017. Land change in the central Albertine Rift: Insight from analysis and mapping of land use-cover change in north-western Rwanda. Applied Geography 87:127-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2017.07.016

·Akinyemi FO, Pontius, Jr RG, Braimoh AK 2017. Land change dynamics: Insights from Intensity Analysis applied to an African emerging city. Journal of Spatial Science, 62(1):69-83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14498596.2016.1196624

· Akinyemi FO 2017. Climate change and variability in semi-arid Palapye, Eastern Botswana: An assessment from , Smallholder farmers’ perspective. Weather, Climate and Society, 9(3): 349–365. http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/WCAS-D-16-0040.1