As marginal drylands, all project sites share similar environmental constraints such as recurrent droughts,
water shortages, shallow soils and the threat of land degradation. As they occur in different economic,
political, social and cultural environments, it will be interesting to address similar bio-physical problems
from different perspectives stemming from varying anthropogenic factors. More importantly, the
SUMAMAD project will allow experience to be gained from other countries so that these may be transferred from one site to another.Nowhere is poverty more apparent than in ecologically fragile marginal lands where evidence of natural resource degradation is commonplace.The livelihoods of almost one billion people are at stake and the situation is becoming increasingly urgent. Over 40 per cent of the population resides on degraded lands.They are among the most fragile populations of the world – as fragile as the environment in which they live – and yet it is an environment that is unexpectedly biologically and culturally diverse.