Today, drylands cover over 40% of the Earth’s surface and are home to approximately 2.3 billion people (International Institute for Environment and Development- iied.org). At the beginning of the 1990s desertification was recognised as one of the main challenges of sustainable development by the United Nations and in 1994 the United Nation Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was created (unccd.int). One of the aims of UNCCD is to put science, technology and traditional knowledge at the forefront in dealing with desertification. In accordance with these principles, RAINDROPS aims to provide a long-term perspective on human adaptation to and the establishment of resilient cultivation systems in drylands.