Scientific publications

Ifejika Speranza, C., Iheaturu, C.J., Mintah, F., Kjelsen, I., Hartmann, R., Fitz, J., Tabi Eckebil, P.P., Agonvonon, G.A., Curatola Fernández, G.F., Wingate, V.R., Hepner, S., Agossou, P., & Akinyemi, F.O. (2025). Targeting agricultural land expansion across Africa: Pathways through effective nature protection, sustainable intensification, and strengthening land governance. In Agricultural Land Use (pp. 199–213). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Agricultural-Land-Use-Structural-Transformations-Environment-Challeng/Baski/p/book/9781032672755

Iheaturu, C.J., Wingate, V.R., Akinyemi, F.O., & 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, 109, 102775. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2025.104497

Hepner S., Agonvonon G., Ehbrecht M., Iheaturu C., Azihou F. A., Ifejika Speranza C. (2025) Degradation and Fragmentation Effects on Structural Complexity in West-African Forest Patches. Biotropica 57(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.70012

Wingate VR, Curatola Fernández GF, Ifejika Speranza C. Small forest patches in West Africa: mapping how they are changing to better inform their conservation. Environmental Conservation. 2024;51(4):254-262. doi:10.1017/S0376892924000171

Iheaturu C., Hepner S., Batchelor J. L., Agonvonon G. A., Akinyemi F. O., Winegate V. R., 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. Manuscript Number: ECOINF-D-24-01225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102876

Mintah, F., Pamela, T. E. P., Oberlack, C., & Ifejika Speranza, C. (2024). Why do forests persist and re-emerge amidst tropical deforestation pressures? Archetypes of governance and impact pathways. Forest Policy and Economics, 169, 103352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103352

Wingate, V. R., Akinyemi, F. O., & Ifejika Speranza, C. (2023). Archetypes of remnant West African forest patches allow identifying common underlying social-ecological characteristics and change pressures. Applied Geography 158, 103024. doi: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2023.103024

Ifejika Speranza C., Akinyemi F. O., Baratoux D., Benveniste J., Ceperley N., Driouech F., Helmschrot J. (2022) Enhancing the Uptake of Earth Observation Products and Services in Africa Through a Multi-level Transdisciplinary Approach. Surv Geophys. 23:1-35. doi: 10.1007/s10712-022-09724-1

Wingate V. R., Akinyemi F. O, Iheaturu C. J., Ifejika Speranza C. (2022) Remote Sensing-Based Inventory of West Africa Tropical Forest Patches: A Basis for Enhancing Their Conservation and Sustainable Use. Remote Sens. 14, 6251. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14246251

Related publications from our team

Fitz J., Ademola A. A., Ifejika Speranza C. (2022). Increasing signs of forest fragmentation in the Cross River National Park in Nigeria: Underlying drivers and need for sustainable responses. Ecological indicators, 139, p. 108943. 10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108943

Contributions to conferences and workshops

Organized Conference Sessions

Ifejika Speranza, C., Tabi Eckebil, P.P. Land Use and Land Cover across Africa – Present, Dynamics and Futures. Swiss Researching Africa Days 2024 (25/10/2024) Bern, Switzerland.

Ifejika Speranza, C., Akinyemi, F. O., Mintah, F., Sonwa, D., Sinsin, B. (Hybrid) Sustaining forests in mosaic landscapes. The International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE) 2023 World Congress, 12/07/2023, Nairobi Kenya.

Ifejika Speranza, C., Bisong, F., (Hybrid) Reconstituting institutions and norms for forest commons in contexts of multiple transitions. Conference Session, The XIX Biennial International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC), 21/06/2023, Nairobi, Kenya.

Presentations in Conferences and Workshops

Tabi Eckebil, P.P., Iheaturu, C.J., Ifejika Speranza, C., Quantifying Ecosystem Services of West African Forests: Trade-offs and Opportunities for Sustainable Land Management in Agricultural Landscapes. IUFRO conference (23–29 June 2024)Stockholm, Sweden.

Tabi Eckebil, P.P, Akinyemi, F.O., Ifejika Speranza, C., Small forests futures in West Africa: a multiple scale and cross-sectoral analysis for sustainable land management. PECS-III conference (12-15 August 2024) Montréal, Canada.

Iheaturu, C.J., Hepner, S., Batchelor, J.L., Agonvonon, G.A., Akinyemi, F.O., Wingate, V.R., & Ifejika Speranza, C., Integrating UAV LiDAR and multispectral data for mapping disturbance severity in West African relict forests. Oral presentation, ForestSAT (9-13 September 2024), Rotorua Energy Event Centre, Rotorua, New Zealand.

Iheaturu, C.J., Wingate, V., Akinyemi, F.O., Ifejika Speranza, C., Monitoring Tropical Forests in West Africa with Deep
Learning and Satellite Data Fusion. Poster presentation, American Geophysical Union Meeting (11 – 15 Dec. 2023), San Francisco, USA.

Hepner, S., Tabi Eckebil, P.P., Agonvonon, G.A., Mintah, F., Iheaturu, C., Ifejika Speranza, C., Video documentation and insights from field research in forest-agricultural landscapes of West Africa. Oral presentation, Swiss Geoscience Meeting (17-19 Nov. 2023), Mendrisio, Switzerland.

Wingate, V.R., Curatola Fernandez, G., Ifejika Speranza, C., Small forest patches in West Africa: mapping how they are changing to better inform their conservation. Swiss Geoscience meeting (17 Nov. 2023), Mendriso, Switzerland.

Iheaturu, C.J., Wingate, V.R., Akinyemi, F.O., Ifejika Speranza, C., Integrating UAV Lidar and Multispectral Data to Assess West African Tropical Forest Condition and Structure. Poster presentation, The ISPRS Geospatial Week (2-7 Sept. 2023), Cairo, Egypt.

Mintah, F., Tabi Eckebil, P.P, Oberlack, C., Ifejika Speranza, C., Analysis of Forest Governance Arrangements and their Impacts on the Persistence and Re-emergence of forest in the Tropics. Oral presentation, IALE 2023 WORLD CONGRESS (10-15 July 2023), Nairobi, Kenya.

Tabi Eckebil, P.P., Bürgi M., Akinyemi, O.F., Sonwa, D., Ifejika Speranza, C., Ecosystem services assessment of forest
patches in mosaic agricultural landscapes in Cameroon and Benin. Oral presentation, IALE 2023 WORLD CONGRESS
(10–15 July 2023), Nairobi, Kenya.

Mintah, F., Tabi Eckebil, P. P., Oberlack, C., Ifejika Speranza, C., Institutions and impacts of forest governance on the persistence and re-emergence of forests in the tropics: An archetype approach. Oral presentation, XIX Biennial International Association of the Study of Commons (IASC) Conference (19-24 June 2023), Nairobi, Kenya.

Agonvonon, G.A., Azihou, F., Ifejika Speranza, C., Tree communities’ conservation in forest patches of Benin,
West Africa. Biodiversity convention: From science to implementation (26-29 June 2023), Ascona, Switzerland.

Agonvonon, G.A., & Ifejika Speranza, C., Challenges and opportunities for early career ecologists in Africa. Oral
presentation, International Association for Ecology (28 Aug. to 02 Sep. 2022), Geneva, Switzerland.

Hepner, S., & Ifejika Speranza, C., Social-ecological factors influencing the aboveground biomass of tropical forest
patches. Oral presentation, International Association for Ecology (28 Aug. to 02 Sep. 2022), Geneva, Switzerland.

Mintah, F., Oberlack, C., Ifejika Speranza, C., Governance of forest use and its impacts on the forest land use change
in sub-Saharan Africa. Oral presentation, The Netherlands Land Academy International Conference on Land
Governance (29 June –01 July 2022), Utrecht, Netherlands.

Mintah F. (2022) Governing land for the future – what (r)evolutions do we need? Talk at the LANDac (Netherlands Land Academy) International Conference on Land Governance, Utrecht, Netherlands.

Tabi Eckebil P. P. (2022) Ecosystem multifunctionality of forest patches in the tropics: A systematic literature review. Talk at the European Geoscience meeting EGU, Vienna, Austria.

Wingate, F. R., Akinyemi, F.O., Iheaturu, C.J., Ifejika Speranza, C., A remote sensing-based inventory of West-Africa
tropical forest patches, European Geoscience meeting EGU (09 April 2022), online.

Guest Lectures and Invited Presentations

Iheaturu, C.J., Remote sensing for ecosystem services mapping in forests. Invited talk presented at the Seminar on Integrative Biodiversity Conservation Science, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Switzerland (23 May 2025).

Ifejika Speranza C., Changing institutions and changing forests in West Africa? A historical examination. Guest lecture, University of Neuchatel , Switzerland (14 December 2023)

Wingate V.R., Small forest patches in West Africa: mapping how they are changing to better inform their conservation. Guest lecture, University of Basel, Switzerland (4 December 2023).

Ifejika Speranza, C., Transdisciplinary approaches of “making hope possible” in social- ecological transformation – Two Illustrative Examples. Lassalle-Institut, Edlibach, Zug, Switzerland (28 August 2023).

Ifejika Speranza, C., Sustaining forest patches in agricultural landscapes of West Africa – A research agenda. Guest
lecture, University of Göttingen, Germany (6 June 2023).

Summer Schools

Summer school on “Forest change detection with remote sensing and high performance cloud computing”, 2024 (Skara, Sweden; C. Iheaturu)

IGS North-South Summer School, 2024 (Pakse, Laos) on “Governance of Natural Resources and Health” (C. Iheaturu)

IGS North-South Summerschool, 2023 (Nanyuki, Kenya) on “Common pool resources in a globalised world” (F. Mintah, P. Tabi Eckebil)

Interdisciplinary summer school, 2023 (Ljubljana, Slowenia) on “Forest ecology and technology to measure forest
characteristics” (S. Hepner)

IGS Summerschool, 2022 (Tramelan, Switzerland) on “Politics and natural resources from a conflict perspective” (G. Agonvonon, S. Hepner)