Socioeconomic and environmental challenges affecting sustainable land management in Africa: A systematic review towards integrated framework proposal

Sustainable land management (SLM) is widely recognised as central to addressing land degradation, strengthening agricultural productivity, and enhancing ecosystem resilience across Africa. However, implementation remains uneven and is constrained by interacting socioeconomic, environmental, and institutional factors. A systematic review of peer-reviewed literature published between 2010 and 2023 was conducted using the Scopus and Google Scholar databases, resulting in 45 eligible studies, which were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The results revealed three dominant categories of constraints: environmental, economic, and social, with environmental degradation, particularly soil erosion, deforestation, and climate variability, being the most frequently reported. However, the review demonstrates that underlying governance challenges, including insecure land tenure, land fragmentation, limited access to resources, weak land-use planning, and administrative inefficiency, largely drive these environmental pressures. Co-occurrence patterns further highlight a key research gap: most studies examine constraints in isolation, despite their systemic interdependence. Geographically, research is heavily concentrated in East Africa, especially Ethiopia, while Central Africa and parts of North Africa remain under-represented. This study’s novelty lies in integrating fragmented evidence into a unified analytical perspective and proposing an Integrated Sustainable Land Management (ISLM) framework that links institutional capacity, tenure security, economic incentives, and ecological restoration. The findings provide actionable insights for policymakers and researchers by supporting coordinated, cross-sectoral SLM strategies tailored to the diverse African land governance contexts.