GENERAL INFORMATION

Project description: Land degradation and desertification in dryland Mediterranean socio-ecological systems are the outcomes of the structural coupling of ecological and socio-economic processes, in areas where increasing climatic pressures are combined with weak adaptive capacity.

SALAM-MED underlying hypotheses are that:

• An integrated approach is needed to restore degraded land and enhance resilience in endangered dryland socio-ecological systems
• Combining top-down ecosystem assessments with bottom-up capacity processes based on social learning, we can generate opportunities for local communities, women and youth
• Systemic innovations are supported by new tools, technologies and services supporting timely decisions, where soil fertility and water conservation are the best options for long-term investments and business opportunities
• The MED area is a mosaic of a wide range of different contexts: tailored solutions needed to boost sustainable development and prevent environmental conflicts

Overall objective:

SALAM-MED builds upon an interdisciplinary network of research organisations, NGOs, SMEs and international organizations, with long-standing collaborative activities across s the MED. The consortium is led by the Desertification Research Center of the University of Sassari and is composed of a multidisciplinary team of 15 partners from 8 MED countries.

SALAM-MED builds upon an interdisciplinary network of research organisations, NGOs, SMEs and international organizations, with long-standing collaborative activities across the MED. The analytical framework informing the SALAM-MED research pathway is based on four pillars sustaining a systemic and transdisciplinary research practice.

SALAM-MED will identify, test and validate nature-based practical solutions to enhance the resilience of endangered MED dryland socio-ecological systems or to restore degraded ecosystems in arid and hyper-arid lands.

Specific objectives:

• Identify, test and validate tailored, nature-based practical solutions to enhance the resilience of endangered MED dryland socio-ecological systems or to restore degraded ecosystems in arid and hyper-arid lands.
• Improve the capacity and support decision-makers in the identification of practical solutions for sustainable land and water management in relevant rural districts of MED drylands.
• Actively engage all relevant stakeholders (particularly women and youth) in the Living Lab processes for the co-creation of knowledge and testing of solutions.
• Generate new investment and business opportunities for sustainable land and water management.

STRATEGY

The analytical framework informing the SALAM-MED research pathway is based on four pillars sustaining a systemic and transdisciplinary research practice:

• The LL approach to social learning processes in six living labs located in ‘hotspots’ for land degradation (LD) across the MED: Italy, Spain, Greece, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia.
• Co-researching and improvement of established new technologies for sustainable land and water management by bridging scientific knowledge gaps on water-related processes causing land degradation in different dryland contexts.
• Exploring, identifying and testing business opportunities, based on an extended cost-benefit analysis.
• Disseminating and scaling out SALAM-MED’s outcomes and practical solutions to similar socio-ecological systems.

EXPECTED RESULTS

• Practical solution to land, water and agro-ecosystem degradation
• Decision-support tools and policy solution to land and water degradation challenges
• Investment opportunities for the adoption of sustainable land management practices.