COST Action ES1104 arid lands restoration andcombat of desertification: Setting up a drylands anddesert restoration hub arid lands restoration scientific fact sheets: State of the art knowledge in science, successes and case studies in restoration

The arid lands and desert restoration hub focuses on knowledge and dissemination of dryland restoration techniques, methods, principles, key people and key organisations as well as successful projects and facilitating new projects. There is a great need to restore existing despoiled drylands and to combat increasing desertification. Restoring habitats improves biodiversity and increases carbon sequestration, and enhances the quality of life for people. An essential measure is the planting of, and reestablishment of vegetation. The successful establishment of vegetation in arid areas is complex requiring the multi-disciplinary skills of arid land experts with various capabilities: in soils, hydrology, ecology, agronomy, land management, etc. However, vegetation restoration techniques in arid areas require review and development. Information on restoration is highly dispersed and often difficult to obtain. The creation of the ‘Drylands and Desert Restoration Hub’ is thus aimed to bring together the expertise, knowledge and information on vegetation establishment and management that exists in the EU and around the world. This publication of fact sheets is one of the final outputs of COST Action ES1104. The fact sheets have been written by participants of the Action in order to contribute useful information in a number of topic areas, which form the expertise of the individual writers. The fact sheets share the broad topic area of restoration, but they are wide ranging as well, dealing with sites within Europe and Africa. They focus on soils, Sustainable Land Management, revegetation and many other areas. An additional final contribution of the Action is the drafting of a white paper. This white paper sets out 5 key recommendations to policy makers and those involved in combatting desertification and in drylands restoration. As a key contribution to the Action, the white paper is located immediately after this introduction.