Fortunately, due to its ability to attract attention to frequently overlooked yet profitable dryland goods and services, an ecosystem approach has the potential to generate the enthusiasm and investment needed to address the difficult problems facing dryland countries.

Appealing to what people care about in dryland areas, the ecosystem approach recognizes problems at the local level as well as across multiple scales and time dimensions. Its implementation would likely attract and sustain the interest of development agencies, governments, national delegates to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), other international conventions, and the general public. If these organizations were to undertake an ecosystem approach to monitoring and assessment, much progress could be made in the revitalization and coordination of contemporary initiatives in dryland development and poverty reduction.