Dryland Solutions is located in the Nugaal Valley region of Somalia. This is a semi-desert grassland ecosystem that has been degraded through deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion, droughts, water shortage food insecurity, disappearing wildlife, and conflict that have overlapped catastrophically for decades, posing a massive challenge to local communities’ development. This initiative aims to ensure the implementation of long-term and highly sustainable solutions to address some of these challenges. By promoting and providing training on the ecological restoration of the area through agroforestry, regenerative agriculture, permaculture, and sustainable land management, this restoration community will improve the resilience and livelihoods of its residents, and tackle one of the most pressing issues of our time: climate change. Dryland Solutions aims to become an educational centre where local communities can find information on maintaining and restoring ecosystems, and making the best of natural ecological processes. In the long term, this site will become a demonstration site and a model for agricultural and ecological practices for the whole country, inspiring, motivating and supporting local residents to restoring their land towards the creation of a more just, fair, abundant and peaceful society.

Dryland Solutions’ Ecosystem Restoration Community will have a profound positive impact environmentally, socially and economically within the region. Repairing the degraded landscape through sustainable water management measures and revegetation will allow native flora and fauna to flourish once more as the watershed and seasonal water flow are restored. These are crucial steps in mitigation and adaptation in the region. It will also allow for sustainable food production, and the management of land for human need. Through collaboration and education, local communities will be able to reforge links with the land, enjoy greater water and food security, and derive a range of natural resources and yields for sustainable businesses to thrive.