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For socio-economic reasons, many rural and forestry areas of Mediterranean Countries suffered from migration of rural population to more industrialised regions. As a consequence, desert is being to be expanded in the abandoned territories, impairing local environment and affecting also the global climate. Most of abandoned lands can be reclaimed for a re-settlement of human communities, alleviating the overpopulation pressure that affects urban areas in many Countries. For re-settlement to be feasible, a sustainable and stable living environment should be created and maintained. This is possible since many abandoned regions have latent resources of water, energy, vegetation and attractive produces which, if properly exploited by means of advanced technologies, could lead to a flourishing of a new and modern rural system. In defining a land reclamation system, an integrated approach should be adopted which takes into account the strong interaction occurring among four sub - systems, i.e., water, energy, agro - sylvi - rural communities, industry. Three steps are deemed necessary for achieving the overall objective:

1. A short - term step (18 months), consisting in setting a methodology, founded on real Countries’ data, for identification of regions susceptible of intervention, and for planning land reclamation operational projects. This methodology will take into account all aspects that may contribute to a successful project implementation with particular emphasis to the deployment of Biomass and other Renewable Energy Sources.

2. A medium - term step (2 years), consisting in establishing a permanent Working Party for land reclamation involving all the Countries of the Region and all the stakeholders for finding a political umbrella, defining operational projects, searching for funds, mobilising: entrepreneurs, establishing joint - ventures with local industry.

3. A long - term step (10 years) for implementing the projects.

Although limited to Mediterranean Countries, a systemic approach to abandoned lands could be of Value for approaching similar problems in developing Countries where at least three kinds of emergencies must be faced: a high migration flux from less developed Countries to more developed ones, overpopulation pressure, environmental impairing. Renewable Energy Sources, in particular biomass, can contribute heavily in solving these problems.