Land degradation and desertification (LDD) in the Mediterranean (MED) is becoming increasingly pronounced due to climate change and increasing pressures on agricultural and forest land. This has negative implications for the provision of ecosystem services, climate change mitigation, food security and the social, economic and political domains. The confluence of climatological, agronomic, social and economic factors inducing and resulting from LDD requires integrated holistic approaches. SALAM-MED builds upon an interdisciplinary network of research organisations, NGOs, SMEs and international organisations, 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:

• 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

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.

Abinsula, as technology provider, develops user-friendly DSS tools that will facilitate the participatory monitoring of the ecological processes and the context-sensitive decisions on the adoption of technologies by end-users. The Digital Platform will be used to communicate/disseminate information by establishing a system to classify SALAM-MED practical solutions from the point of view of technologies used, objectives achieved, socio-economic context, main criticalities faced by the solution, and possible future development.