The "Land Use Change Analysis as an Approach for Investigating Biodiversity Loss and Land Degradation" is a medium sized targeted research project funded by United Nations Environment Programme-Global Environment Facility (UNEP-GEF) and other donors. The project provides an umbrella for coordinated research activities occurring in sites across East Africa, and at the East Africa regional level. The project’s goal is to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and prevention of land degradation by providing useful instruments, or methodological guides, to identify and monitor changes in the landscape associated with biodiversity loss and land degradation, and to identify the root causes of those changes. The main approach has been to examine the linkages between the processes of change in biodiversity, land degradation and land use in East Africa in order to derive information and experience upon which to base the design of the guides for detecting such trends. Various ecological, socioeconomic and land use change theories and conceptual frameworks have informed the research and the guides.