Abstract
Under the context of UNCCD, using its regional network of local observatories the ROSELT/OSS program aims to contribute to the assessment of the environmental changes in order to understand and predict the desertification process, through the installation of an enduring device of environmental monitoring, useful for the decisionmaking process. For this challenge, the french research institute for the development and the network established, decided to develop and implemente a common Information Circulation System, based on regular exchanges between its members, on a scientific consensus gradually and increasingly adapted. The ROSELT ICS is organised around technical, scientific and institutional tools in the circum-saharian area. It is structured in three interlocked levels: local, national and regional. Within the complete schema of the ROSELT approach, our paper focus primarily on the explanation of one of its components, called SIEL. It is an original tool coupling GIS and models, integrating data collected from biophysical and socio-economical origins, to be able to establish a complete diagnostic of natural resource use allowing prediction of future evolutions. We explain its contributions towards desertification monitoring devices and desertification ICS.