Extensive areas in Latin America, arid or semi-arid, are the homeland of millions of people, and have been inhabited since pre-Columbian times (UNDP, 2004). Despite their harsh environmental conditions, these areas are extremely diverse and abundant in plants with actual or potential economic value (Newton, 2008). The value of these plants has been documented for centuries in several classical books such as those of Francisco Hernández (1659) or Maximino Martínez (1936) in México, just to mention a few examples. Despite the long tradition of collecting knowledge about native plants, habitat destruction and soil erosion prevail in many of these areas, constituting a severe threat not only to biodiversity but to the well-being of the local people. Documenting the socioeconomic relationships between local people and native plants is clearly essential for proposing any cogent plan for forest restoration and conservation in these areas. The present chapter summarizes the findings of socioeconomic studies on native dry forest in Latin America and provides recommendations to be taken into account for implementing restoration or conservation plans. The following text summarizes the results obtained from a variety of different socioeconomic surveys conducted in the different study areas as part of the ReForLan project. Further details of the individual studies, together with some information from other relevant research initiatives, are provided in Boxes 6.1–6.6.