Project Update
Gambella Wetland: Restored, Reclaimed, Revived for Wildlife and People
CETRAD and Wyss Academy reach a milestone with the official handover of the restored Gambella Wetland to the local community.
Read moreEast Africa's Dryland Research Institution
Fifty Years in the Landscape.
Where science meets territory.
CETRAD translates five decades of continuous field presence into applied research, trained practitioners, and measurable change - across East Africa's drylands.
The Challenge
Arid and semi-arid lands cover over 40% of Africa's surface - home to hundreds of millions of people, and the source of the rivers, rangelands, and water towers that feed entire regions.
Under pressure from climate change, population growth, and resource conflict, the decisions made in these landscapes over the next decade will shape water, food, and land security across East Africa for a generation. Good decisions require good data, trained people, and institutions that stay.
40%
of Africa's surface is arid or semi-arid
300M+
people depend on ASAL landscapes
50 yrs
CETRAD has been measuring, training, and acting in these lands
Who We Are
For half a century, the Centre for Transformative Research and Development has worked these drylands from Laikipia - turning long-term data into policy, trained practitioners, and restored ecosystems.
CETRAD is an independent Trust - not a project, not a consultancy. Our institutional continuity means we are present before the funding arrives and after it leaves.
Governed by
Ministry of Water, Sanitation & Irrigation
Policy & Governance - Government of Kenya
University of Nairobi
Research & Academic Partner - Kenya
Centre for Development and Environment
Academic Partner - University of Bern, Switzerland
50 years
of continuous data
17
GIS units deployed
6,000+
trees planted
294
officers trained
What We Do
Science that reaches those who need it
Research
Applied research on ASAL systems
Interdisciplinary field research designed to be usable by practitioners and decision-makers - not just published and shelved. From hydromet monitoring to land use analysis to conflict mapping.
Training
Building the next generation of ASAL practitioners
Graduate supervision, NEMA-certified short courses, and field programmes that put dryland professionals in the room where decisions are made - from GIS to IWRM to environmental assessment.
Data & Knowledge
Open tools and platforms for dryland regions
50 years of continuous hydromet data on the Ewaso Ng'iro north basin. A geoportal, early warning systems, and data platforms built to serve research, practice, and policy - not locked in academic archives.
Field Presence
Continuously present in Laikipia since 1976
Not a consultant who visits. CETRAD lives here - with the community trust, institutional memory, and long-term datasets that only come from five decades of unbroken presence in one place.
The Data Advantage
50 years of unbroken data on the Ewaso Ng'iro north basin
Since 1976, CETRAD has measured river flows, rainfall, temperature, evaporation, wind, radiation, and humidity across the Ewaso Ng'iro north basin without interruption. Real-time transmission via LoRa network. One of the longest continuous environmental datasets in East Africa.
No one else has this. Projects that rely on modelled or interpolated data work around a gap that CETRAD's data fills directly.
Explore Our DataLive platforms
WLRC - Water & Land Resource Centre
Water and land resource data, monitoring dashboards, and research outputs from the Ewaso Ng'iro basin.
wlrc-ken.org →
Kenya Atlas
Interactive geospatial platform for natural resources, land use, and socioeconomic indicators across Kenya.
kenya-atlas.org →
Early Warning System
Real-time flood risk alerts, drought monitoring, and weather forecasts for the Ewaso Ng'iro basin.
ews.wlrc-ken.org →
Why CETRAD
The only 50-year dryland dataset in East Africa
Continuous hydrological, meteorological, and land use data since 1976. No one else has this depth for Kenya's ASAL region.
Monitoring this land since 1976
Deep community trust in Laikipia built over five decades. We live here - and it shows in everything we do.
Kenyan-governed, internationally connected
A Kenyan Trust with tripartite governance across the University of Nairobi, the University of Bern, and the Ministry of Water. Local knowledge meets global science.
From data to action under one roof
Research, training, GIS, and on-the-ground implementation - integrated capacity that delivers results, not just reports.
From the Field
Research in action - latest news and project updates
Partners & Funders
Working in Kenya's drylands?
Whether you need data, training, a research partner, or an EIA - let's talk about what CETRAD can contribute to your work.