BackgroundThe changes in land use and land cover have a strong effect on the total soil organic carbon, its fractions and its overall soil health. This study carried out in Olesharo Catchment, Kenya, was to quantify the differences in total organic carbon (TOC), particulate organic carbon (POC), mineral organic carbon (MOC) and carbon management index (CMI) among four land use types: grasslands, shrublands, agricultural lands and barelands. It was also purported to evaluate the use of CMI as an indicator for soil degradation or improvement in response to land use and land cover changes.ResultsThe results of the study show that the mean values of TOC, POC and MOC are significantly different between land use types. Thus, shrublands have significantly higher TOC (22.26 g kg−1) than grasslands (10.29 g kg−1) and bare lands (7.56 g kg−1). They also have significantly higher POC (7.79 g kg−1) and MOC (10.04 g kg−1) than all the other land use types. The agricultural lands have higher CMI than grasslands (53% vs 41% relative to shrublands) suggesting that grasslands face serious degradation through overgrazing.ConclusionsThis study shows that different land use types have an influence on soil organic carbon pools, and consequently on the CMI, the CMI could be used as an indicator for soil degradation or improvement in response to land use and land cover changes.