The semi-arid regions of Latin America are regions of significant biodiversity and native forest reserves, which are highly adaptable ecologically and are home to around 55 million people. The diversity of social groups living in the Semi-Arid have created ways of life and production that enable respectful and sustainable relationships with nature and make these regions the protagonists of resilience processes.

These are traditional communities, indigenous peoples, peasants and family farmers who have been developing experiences of living with semi-arid conditions for generations. Its peoples are familiar with the effects of drought and have accumulated strategies for risk management and adapted management of natural and water resources, as well as knowledge and innovations that can serve other territories around the world.

Despite facing severe effects from climate change and being particularly susceptible to desertification, Latin America’s semi-arid regions do not receive enough attention in international discussions and most restoration and adaptation actions are still focused on tropical forests. The fight against desertification must have rural communities and their ways of life at the center of the discussion. A central tool for achieving climate resilience, restoring semi-arid ecosystems and conserving biodiversity is ensuring that communities have access to land and water and can develop their lives in these regions.

This is why the defense of territory and access to water are the main challenges shared by these regions in order to achieve land degradation neutrality, as proposed by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Social technologies and peasant innovations are key to the processes of conserving native vegetation, recovering the soil, mitigating the effects of drought and guaranteeing better living conditions for the 55 million people who live there.

The Semi-Arid Platform of Latin America is a network of social organizations fighting to guarantee rights and access to natural resources for the peoples of the semi-arid region, claiming territorial work, the development potential of the territory and the construction of policies and technical proposals to reduce hunger and poverty. This initiative was born within the International Land Coalition (ILC), which promotes regional integration through the exchange of peasant knowledge and innovations from different semi-arid territories.

Aligned with the principles of the UNCCD, the Platform seeks to promote sustainable coexistence with the semi-arid regions through social mobilization, political advocacy and the promotion of agroecology.