Forests play crucial ecological, social and economic roles in drylands, but in many regions they have become degraded. Worldwide, millions of hectares of dryland forest landscapes need to be restored to help tackle global challenges such as poverty, climate change, soil erosion and desertification. In collaboration with its partners, therefore, FAO is preparing guidelines for restoring the resilience of forest landscapes in drylands, to be published in the second half of 2013. This brochure describes the main elements of the guidelines.

• Towards global guidelines for restoring the resilience of forest landscapes in drylands