Millennium Development Goal Number Seven is particularly concerned with the safeguarding and provision of freshwater resources to all human.beings; this is a major challenge – and perhaps even the main challenge – for all the world’s drylands. SUMAMAD project aims at the sustainable management of marginal drylands, where the scarcity of water imposes restrictions for the productivity of each particular ecosystem. It is needed therefore to look into the entire water complex so as to promote a wise and sustainable water use. However,
freshwater cannot be dissociated from its wider ecosystem; for this reason, the SUMAMAD project has been designed at the interface of environmental conservation and scientific research to promote the sustainable management of drylands for the benefit of dryland people. It is our task as scientists to develop solutions so that dryland dwellers can enjoy a quality of life that does not marginalize them from urban citizens.