The second phase of the Sustainable Management of Marginal Drylands (SUMAMAD-2) project began in 2009 following a preparatory meeting on the project held on 3–6 June 2008 in Amman and the Dana Biosphere Reserve, Jordan, and was hosted by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN). The extended SUMAMAD-2 to other world regions included South America (Bolivia) and Africa (Burkina Faso).

The world’s drylands are among the most vulnerable ecosystems on our planet. Desertification and land degradation are affecting huge land areas, jeopardizing the livelihoods of millions of people. Unsustainable management practices in dryland cultivation and pastoralism have given rise to widespread soil erosion, reduction of the biological production of soils, reduction of vegetation cover, and depletion of surface and groundwater resources.