Arid and semi-arid landscapes are among the most climate-sensitive ecosystems, facing land degradation, water scarcity, and biodiversity loss. At the same time, they are home to vulnerable human populations relying heavily on ecosystem services. Nature-based solutions (NbS) have gained traction as cost-effective and adaptive approaches to address these challenges, yet their implementation in drylands faces unique ecological, socio-economic, and institutional barriers.
This session aims to:
• Showcase projects that restore degraded land, improve water availability, and enhance biodiversity in arid/semi-arid regions.
• Compare different NbS approaches (e.g., water harvesting, vegetation restoration, managed aquifer recharge, agroforestry) in terms of effectiveness, resilience, and scalability.
• Highlight monitoring tools such as citizen-science, eDNA, remote sensing, and hydrological modelling for assessing NbS outcomes.
• Discuss barriers and enabling conditions, including governance, policy, and cultural contexts.
• Explore pathways for collaboration, cross-site learning, and upscaling of successful practices.
We encourage contributions from a wide geographic range—including Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and other dryland regions—and welcome diverse formats (oral, poster, PICO). Early-career scientists and practitioners from underrepresented regions are especially encouraged to participate.