28 Aug 2026
Policy Brief // Securing dryland futures - Harnessing the water-energy-food-ecosystems nexus through nature-based solutions in the Near East and Africa
This policy brief explores integrated approaches to strengthening dryland resilience through sustainable land-use planning and the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems Nexus and highlights the importance of inclusive, participatory and gender-responsive governance that protects land and water rights and balances competing demands.
Key messages
- Effective and sustainable land use outcomes require integrating cross-sectoral planning into existing land-use frameworks through participatory and inclusive processes.
- Integrated and participatory land-use planning underpins dryland resilience.
- Scaling nature-based solutions (NbS) is critical to reversing dryland degradation.
- Blending natural and engineered solutions improves water and energy efficiency in drylands.
- Landscape- and basin-scale water-energy-food-ecosystems (WEFE) nexus planning addresses cumulative dryland pressures.
- Strong governance, regional cooperation and financing enable dryland transformation.
Published
August 2026
By
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
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