Felicia Akinyemi

Felicia är certifierad expert inom geografiska informationssystem (GISP). Som forskare inom landsystem och ekologisk fjärranalys skär hennes arbete geoinformatik, miljöförändringar och hållbarhet samman. Hennes forskning fokuserar på hur förändringar i marksystem relaterar till nedbrytningsprocesser i kopplade mänskliga-naturliga system över flera decenniala tidsskalor. Förändring i marksystem, det vill säga de rumsliga och tidsmässiga förändringarna i samspelet mellan system som formar markanvändning och marktäcke, är involverade i pågående hållbarhetsutmaningar såsom minskning av biologisk mångfald, klimatförändringar och markförstöring. Dessa tre sammanlänkade teman är pelarna i hennes forskning: i) Förändring av marksystemet, ii) Neutralitet vid markförstöring – LDN (Sustainable Development Goal 15.3.1 – Livet på land), och iii) Modellering av markanvändningens framtid i klimatets ljus för alternativa utvecklingsvägar, med hänsyn till potentiella avvägningar och synergier mellan konkurrerande markanvändningar.

Hon bidrar till arbetet i Science Policy Interface-gruppen inom FN:s konvention för bekämpning av ökenspridning (UNCCD-SPI, Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Scenarios and Models Task Force, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Scenarios-based Model Intercomparison WG (BES-SIM2), IUCN:s kommission för ekosystemförvaltning, och fram till 2024 Biodiversity Task Force vid Europeiska geovetenskapsunionen (EGU-BioTF).

Huvudförfattare till två UNCCD-bedömningar: Sustainable Land Use Systems: The path to collectively achieving Land Degradation Neutrality och Integrated mark use planning and integrated landscape management. Hon leder arbetet med att utveckla fjärranalysbaserade mått för att operationalisera målet för markförstöringsneutralitet (LDN) (SDG 15.3) och motsvarande SDG-indikator 15.3.1 som syftar till att uppskatta andelen degraderad mark över den totala markytan. Ramverk för att bedöma LDN, inklusive kartläggning av årlig marktäcke, har utvecklats för flera länder.

Felicia has a habilitation (venia docendi) in Remote Sensing and Integrative Geography at the University of Bern, Switzerland. She supervises student theses across all three cycles. She has experience teaching courses in both graduate and undergraduate programmes in both physical and online setting. Courses taught include the following:

• Geospatial analysis with cloud computing in environmental monitoring
• Spatial Statistics
• Spatial Modelling and Remote Sensing of Natural Systems
• Land Systems and Sustainable Land Management
• Assessing and Monitoring Land Surface Dynamics
• Environmental Assessment and Monitoring with Earth Observation
• Geographic Information System Principles 
• Remote Sensing Principles

Felicia collaborates with universities and research institutes in Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Norway and across Africa, especially in South Africa, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Rwanda and Botswana. 

Projects include:

• RiverWISE  — Water yield estimation and irrigation demand modelling using multi-sensor Earth Observation data within a tropical river basin (Ogun-Osun River Basin)
• SpaceWetland —  Monitoring Wetland Restoration Using Multi-Sensor Earth Observation Data
• Land-use change and the resilience of food production systems (LucFRes). European Union Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101025259
• Monitoring land degradation in the Central District of Botswana. A three-tier land degradation index mapping approach (LDIMapping). United States Agency for International Development and Botswana International University of Science and Technology. https://arcg.is/uuGjK    

Akinyemi FO, Rufin P, Ibrahim ES, Hostert P, Ogunsumi LO, Egbetokun OA, Ifejika Speranza C. 2026. Mapping crop types across multiple growing cycles in smallholder mono- and intercropping systems with multi-sensor data. Science of Remote Sensing, 100416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srs.2026.100416 

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 FO, 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

Iheaturu, C.J., Akinyemi FO, Wingate, V.R. et al. 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, P. P., Mintah, F., Bürgi, M., Akinyemi FO, Sonwa, D. J., & 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, 8, Article 1623266. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2025.1623266

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) 22 (7) e2410246122. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2410246122

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

Akinyemi FO. 2025. Remote sensing and geospatial methods for sustainable land systems. Habilitation Thesis: Faculty of Science, University of Bern, Switzerland  https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15120148

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, pp. 199-213. ISBN9781032672779

Akinyemi FO, Ifejika Speranza C. 2024. 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. https://doi.org/10.1080/10095020.2024.2362759

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 

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/j.apgeog.2023.103024

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 

Akinyemi FO, 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.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2021.102644

NASA Earth Observatory featured study: "Crop Expansion Accelerates in Africa" (March 28, 2022) https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/149624/crop-expansion-accelerates-in-africa

Wingate VR, Akinyemi FO, Iheaturu C, Ifejika Speranza C 2022. A Remote Sensing-Based
Inventory of West Africa Tropical Forest Patches: A Basis for Enhancing Their Conservation and Sustainable Use. Remote Sensing 14, 6251. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14246251

Osemwegie I, da Cruz Delgado K, Arimiyaw AW, Kanneh AB, Todota CT, Faye A, Akinyemi FO 2022. Diagnostic Analysis of the Canary Current System of West Africa: The need for a paradigm shift to proactive natural resource management. Ocean Coast. Res. 69. https://doi.org/10.1590/2675.2824069.21022io 

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

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. https://doi.org/10.1080/10106049.2019.1678673

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

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. https://doi.org/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 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. Appl Geogr 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. J. Spat Sci 62(1):69-83. https://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 Clim. Soc 9:349-65. https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-16-0040.1

Kebonye N, Eze P, Akinyemi FO 2017. Long-term treated wastewater impacts and source identification of heavy metal in semi-arid soil of Central Botswana. Geoderma Reg 10:200-214.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geodrs.2017.08.001

Mashame G, Akinyemi FO 2016. Towards a Remote Sensing based assessment of land susceptibility to degradation: Examining seasonal variation in land use-cover for modelling land degradation in a semi-arid context. Annals Photogram RS Spat Infor Sci 3(8):137-144.  https://doi.org/10.5194/isprsannals-III-8-137-2016