Soils are the fundamental components of terrestrial ecosystems governing the ecological functioning of the systems; such as biomass production, nutrient circulation and carbon sequestration. Furthermore, the water cycle and the stability of freshwater flow within ecosystems are directly depending on soil properties. Hence, healthy soils are vital sources for building and maintaining water resilience within ecosystems.
Overexploitation of natural resources, such as deforestation, agricultural intensification, overgrazing and urbanization has throughout the centuries led to enormous soil and ecosystem degradation worldwide. Furthermore, the degradation has seriously disrupted water circulation within ecosystems and altered freshwater flow leading to devastating groundwater levels.
Soil and ecosystem restoration practices are thus fundamental for re-establishing or increasing resilience of water resources. That applies to all degraded biomes of the world; in highly altered, semi-natural and near-natural condition. Resilience-based management of natural resources aims at maintaining the resources, restoring degraded soils and ecosystems and ensure sustainable development. Hence, effective management strategies must be performed in close collaboration with all related stakeholders and embedded in regional and national policies.
This session will focus on discussing how to strengthen the interdisciplinary scientific knowledge required in the field of resilience-based soil and water management and the value of social-ecological system analysis and stakeholder involvement in that context. Furthermore, it will discuss how to increase ecoliteracy among the general public to build up social cohesion for soil and water conservation and last but not least, how to get these messages into national and global policies.

Key words: soil conservation, water resources, ecosystem restoration, resilience, management,