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Soil resources in East Africa are being rapidly depleted by erosion, threatening food, water and livelihood security in the region. Here we demonstrate how the integration of evidence from natural and social sciences has supported a community‐led change in land management in an agro‐pastoral community in northern Tanzania. Geospatial analysis of erosion risk and extent (based on a drone survey across a 3.6 km² sub‐catchment) revealed that recently converted land had ca 12‐times greater rill density than established slow‐forming terraced plots (987 ± 840 m² ha⁻¹ vs. 79 ± 110 m² ha⁻¹). Slope length and connectivity between plots were key factors in the development of rill networks rather than slope per se wherein slope length was augmented by weak boundaries between newly formed plots. Erosion evidence, supported by communication of 'process' and 'structural' hydrological connectivity …