Dryland and oasis communities in developing countries are considered to be among the most threatened by climate change impacts and the consequences of increasing human pressure on the environment. For centuries nomads and oasis communities have been demonstrating their adaptive capacities and resilience by coping with tough environmental conditions. In the Moroccan Drâa Valley, we explore different top-down, bottom-up, regional and local adaptation strategies, applied in response to increasing droughts and desertification rates. The adaptations of different sectors and actors have been integrated in a regional study in order to frame them from both the resilience and sustainability perspectives. The findings underline that while human adaptive strategies are mostly capable of addressing stressors and enhancing resilience (in the short run) locally, ecosystems resilience and regional social-ecological sustainability are under threat. The paper concludes by highlighting the importance of reframing resilient strategies in the light of sustainability and long term resilience perspectives.