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This issue of Restoration Ecology inaugurates a thematic series on arid land (dryland) restoration. This initiative is a collabora-tive effort between the Society for Ecological Restoration and the Kuwait Institute for Scienti fi c Research in conjunction with our publisher, Wiley. For the next 5 years, up to two thematic issues will be published per year in addition to the six regular issues. Our aim is to improve understanding of restoration in arid environments (i.e. hyper-arid, arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid ecosystems) around the world but with special emphasis on Arab countries. The arid-lands thematic issues aim to improve capacity to reduce biodiversity and ecosystem loss, alleviate poverty, strengthen social capital, and build more resilient social-ecological systems free of the threat of land degradation and deserti fi cation. As typical of Restoration Ecology , the thematic series will include high-quality papers that address crit-ical research issues, consider practical solutions, and provide policy guidance for the restoration of arid lands. Future issues may, like this one, consider a variety of topics from different perspectives or, as in our special issues and sections, include papers primarily focused on a particular topic. lands