Combating desertification and sustainable development in dry lands is one of the most important environmental issues which should be solved by international society. In the North-East Asia, recent increase in livestock population, changes in socio-economic systems and collapse of traditional sustainable land use systems have been causing serious land degradation. To achieve both prevention of desertification and sustainable use of land resources, it is necessary to restore ecosystem functions which provide various ecosystem services such as provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services.

This study aims to provide a guideline for the ecosystem restoration and the sustainable resource use in the rangelands of North-East Asia. To achieve this purpose, we will (1) integrate ecological knowledge regarding ecological restoration and develop restoration measures which could facilitate restoration of ecosystem services, (2) build framework of vulnerability-resilience assessment to select optimal measures for target regions, and (3) develop and disseminate 'Restoration Manuals' for sustainable use of ecosystem services which could be practically used by local people.