DNI Publications
() DNI
Joint Comunication on Rethinking the Futures of Mediterranean Land and Water
The Mediterranean stands at a critical crossroads. Rich in ecological diversity and cultural heritage, this region faces intensifying pressures from climate change, desertification, water scarcity, and socio-economic inequality. These interconnected challenges transcend borders and sectors, generating instability and competition over natural resources. Their complexity and fragmented nature demand collaborative responses that connect science, policy, and society, while engaging stakeholders and local communities in co-developing sustainable pathways.
The Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA), established in 2018 as an EU Institutionalised Partnership under Horizon 2020, aims to strengthen Euro-Mediterranean cooperation on water scarcity, sustainable agriculture and resilient food systems. With nearly €600 million mobilised, over 260 cross-border projects funded, over 2,500 participants engaged, 170 exploitable results produced, and 127 demonstration sites established, PRIMA has demonstrated its capacity to build partnerships and validate innovations across diverse Mediterranean contexts.
As PRIMA’s current mandate approaches completion in 2027, the need for a successor framework (PRIMA 2) has become evident. The evolving context, marked by intensifying drought, land degradation, declining soil fertility, water–food–energy vulnerabilities, geopolitical instability and socio-economic inequality, requires an approach that consolidates validated solutions, enables territorial scaling, and strengthens the science–policy–practice interface to support land restoration, sustainable water governance, and climate resilience across
Mediterranean communities.
This communication embodies the collaborative values it promotes, as it has been developed through multiple participatory stages. Initially, an online survey and the circulation of a draft version allowed a diverse group of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to share their perspectives before the conference. At the science-policy conference in Athens on 11 November 2025, keynote presentations by PRIMA Foundation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P), provided the strategic and institutional context, framing Mediterranean land and water challenges within global sustainable development and climate action frameworks. An intergenerational panel discussion, coordinated by the NextGen4MED youth-led initiative, brought together early-career researchers and senior experts from the PRIMA-funded projects SALAM-MED (of which DNI is an in-kind partner), OurMED, Ag-WaMED, NATMed, and SUREPASTOR to reflect on the gap between scientific knowledge and transformative practice. Lastly, an interactive drafting session enabled participants to collectively identify and prioritise research, policy, and adoption recommendations, ensuring that this document reflects not only the evidence base but also the lived experience and strategic priorities of a diverse Mediterranean community.
Our recommendations aim to inform the PRIMA2 Joint Programme, the UNCCD strategies for land restoration and drought resilience in the Mediterranean region, and FAO initiatives on sustainable agriculture, water management, and food security. At the heart of this collective effort lies a clear ambition: to capitalise on proven approaches while expanding pathways from evidence to adoption, strengthening partnerships for lasting and scalable change, and promoting transformative innovations that enhance resilience and sustainability for Mediterranean societies and ecosystems.
() Bernard Bonnet (coordination éditoriale), Jean-Luc Chotte (coordination éditoriale), Pierre Hiernaux (coordination éditoriale), Alexandre Ickowicz (coordination éditoriale), Maud Loireau (coordination éditoriale)
Désertification et changement climatique, un même combat?
Books
(2023) EUSO
Soil Atlas of Asia
The EUSO, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, has brought together over 100 soil experts from 45 Asian and European countries to produce the first-ever SOIL ATLAS OF ASIA. The atlas is targeted at the general public, decision-makers, politicians, teachers and even scientists in other disciplines, and aims to raise awareness of the importance of soil to human existence in Asia. The atlas explains, in a simple and clear manner, the reasons for the varying patterns of soil across Asia as well as the need to conserve and manage this increasingly threatened natural resource through sustainable use. At its heart is a series of annotated maps that show, for the very first time, the diversity of soil characteristics across the Asian continent in a manner that is comprehensible to the layperson. Download the Atlas: https://esdac.jrc.ec.
Books
(2022) Alexandre Christofaro Silva, André Rodrigo Rech, Diego Tassinari
Book – Peatlands of Southern Espinhaço Mountain Range, Brazil
Books
(2022) Mariam Akhtar-Schuster,Lindsay C. Stringer, Graciela Metternicht, Nichole N. Barger, Jean-Luc Chotte and German Kust
Assessing the Impact of Science in the Implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
In 2013, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) established a science–policy interface (SPI) to address Parties’ need for demand-driven, timely, interdisciplinary science and technical knowledge to tackle problems of desertification, land degradation and drought. Since then, a comprehensive assessment of the SPI’s impacts on policy decision-making has been lacking, despite perceptions that the SPI is vital to the Convention’s success. Addressing this gap, this paper evaluates whether the SPI and its processes and outputs have provided the necessary scientific and technological knowledge and advice to Parties to support timely, evidence-informed decision-making. It applies an analytical framework to assess performance metrics, considering associated documents and evidence of societal relevance and social quality. The findings indicate that SPI outputs have improved implementation of the UNCCD since 2015, particularly in the context of Sustainable Development Goal Target 15.3. SPI outputs have supported scientific cooperation between the Convention and its strategic partners while enhancing its science and technology profile in line with Article 16 and Article 17. The findings indicate that further formalization of the SPI’s status within the UNCCD is vital to improve its functions, undertake its work, and enable the UNCCD to maintain its global lead in providing knowledge and advice on combating desertification, land degradation and drought.
Abstract: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/4/568
PDF Version: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/4/568/pdf
Publication in Journal
(2021) United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
GAR Special Report on Drought 2021
Droughts have deep, widespread and underestimated impacts on societies, ecosystems, and economies. They incur costs that are borne disproportionately by the most vulnerable people. The extensive impacts of drought are consistently underreported even though they span large areas, cascade through systems and scales, and linger through time, affecting millions of people and contributing to food insecurity, poverty, and inequality. Climate change is increasing temperatures and disrupting rainfall patterns, increasing the frequency, severity, and duration of droughts in many regions across the globe. As we move towards a 2˚C warmer world, urgent action is required to better understand and more effectively manage drought risk to reduce the devastating toll on human lives and livelihoods, and ecosystems.
The GAR Special Report on Drought 2021 explores the systemic nature of drought and its impacts on achievement of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the SDGs and human and ecosystems health and wellbeing.
The report is available for download here.
The GAR Special Report on Drought 2021 was published by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
The GAR Special Report on Drought 2021 explores the systemic nature of drought and its impacts on achievement of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the SDGs and human and ecosystems health and wellbeing.
Report
https://www.undrr.org/publication/gar-special-report-drought-2021
(2021) World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
State of the Global Climate 2020
WMO-No. 1264
Publication in Journal
(2020) Hoover, D. L., B. Bestelmeyer, N. B. Grimm, T. E. Huxman, S. C. Reed, O. Sala, T. R. Seastedt, H. Wilmer & S. Ferrenberg
Traversing the Wasteland: A Framework for Assessing Ecological Threats to Drylands.
Bioscience, 70, 35-47.
Publication in Journal
(2020) Eldridge, D. J., M. Delgado-Baquerizo, J. L. Quero, V. Ochoa, B. Gozalo, P. Garcia-Palacios, C. Escolar, M. Garcia-Gomez, A. Prina, M. A. Bowker, D. E. Bran, I. Castro, A. Cea, M. Derak, C. I. Espinosa, A. Florentino, J. J. Gaitan, G. Gatica, S. Gomez-Gonzalez, W. Ghiloufi, J. R. Gutierrez, E. Guzman-Montalvan, R. M. Hernandez, F. M. Hughes, W. Muino, J. Monerris, A. Ospina, D. A. Ramirez, Y. A. Ribas-Fernandez, R. L. Romao, C. Torres-Diaz, T. B. Koen & F. T. Maestre
Surface indicators are correlated with soil multifunctionality in global drylands
Journal of Applied Ecology, 57, 424-435.
Publication in Journal
(2020) Cao, W., Y. X. Xiong, D. G. Zhao, H. Y. Tan & J. J. Qu
Bryophytes and the symbiotic microorganisms, the pioneers of vegetation restoration in karst rocky desertification areas in southwestern China.
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 104, 873-891.
Publication in Journal
(2019) Garau, M., Garau, G., Diquattro, S., Roggero, P. P., & Castaldi, P.
Mobility, bioaccessibility and toxicity of potentially toxic elements in a contaminated soil treated with municipal solid waste compost
Ecotoxicology and environmental safety, 186, 109766.
Publication in Journal
(2019) Chotte, J.L., Aynekulu, E., Cowie, A., Campbell, E., Vlek, P., Lal, R., Kapović-Solomun, M., von Maltitz, G., Kust, G., Barger, N., Vargas, R. & S. Gastrow
Realising the Carbon Benefits of Sustainable Land Management Practices
Guidelines for Estimation of Soil Organic Carbon in the Context of Land Degradation Neutrality Planning and Monitoring. A report of the Science-Policy Interface. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Bonn, Germany.
Publication in Journal
https://knowledge.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2019 10/191016_EN_UNCCD_SPI_2019_Report_1_1_Web.pdf
(2019) Branch, O. & V. Wulfmeyer
Deliberate enhancement of rainfall using desert plantations
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116, 18841-18847.
Publication in Journal
(2019) Akuno, M. H., Nocella, G., Milia, E. P., & Gutierrez, L.
Factors influencing the relationship between fluoride in drinking water and dental fluorosis
Factors influencing the relationship between fluoride in drinking water and dental fluorosis: a ten-year systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Water and Health, 17(6), 845-862.
Publication in Journal