The availability of water for domestic, industrial, and agricultural use is of fundamental importance to the social and economic development of the arid and semi-arid regions. In the Brazilian semi-arid region, agricultural exploration is becoming more and more dependent on irrigation. Unfortunately, with the increase of irrigated areas, associated with the inadequate management of soil and water, the progressive increase of soil salinisation levels has been observed. In addition, the population increase in this region has forced the use of brackish waters in agriculture and even for domestic consumption. Due to the fact that this water is mostly inadequate for human consumption, it is generally previously desalinated, and the residue from this process (salts) is discarded in the soil. In the past years this has contributed to the salinisation (pollution) of considerable areas and until now, the effort of regional researchers has been fruitless. The problem's complexity is so large that its solution requires multidisciplinary teams of qualified researchers, working coordinatedly in basic and applied areas. Thusly, the creation of the Salinity Research Institute (INCTSal) will offer the environment this multidisciplinary research so urgently needs to solve this problem, and it will enable the establishment of teams that can develop basic and applied research within international standards. In other to attain the greater goals, the project defined a structure centered in five study lines (I. Physiology, biochemistry, and genetics of saline stress; II. Diagnosis of areas affected by salt and of water quality for irrigation; III. Tests of salinity tolerance for species and cultivars used in irrigated agriculture, and genetic improvement focusing on the production of more salinity-tolerant cultivars; IV. Salinity management and control practices in the soil-water-plant system; and V. Rehabilitation and reuse of salinised areas). The action involves eleven laboratories or research groups from seven institutions: Federal University of Ceará (UFC), Federal Rural University of the Semi-Arid (Ufersa), Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), Embrapa Tropical Agroindustry, and the University of São Paulo Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculcure (Esalq/USP). The INCTSal is headquartered at UFC's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and, in the hopes of facilitating INCTSal's network operations, research planning, implementation and assessment shall be participatory and centered on the research lines. The Management Committee will work as an intermediate agent between the Institute's Coordination and the researchers. The institute's management, as well as its coordination, is not linked or superposed to the entity's administration which serves as its headquarters (UFC). The training of INCTSal's human resources will be done at undergraduate and graduate levels or by means of internships and participation in short courses. The transfer of the technologies developed by the institute will be done through courses of medium and long duration, and directed at technicians with and without college education who work with irrigation associations or with rural agents from regions in which irrigated agriculture is practiced. Events will also be promoted in order to publicize results and share best soil and water management techniques, including with field demonstrations, according to the principle of "learning by doing".