Territory has dimensions and meanings that vary according to each society and how the ways of life are assigned, and can be understood as a safeguard, the environment where we live, or as a provider, the place where all the natural resources and raw materials necessary for the survival of societies are available.Thus, the semi-arid territories are immersed in this complexity that defines the territory in its various aspects. The objective of this work was to analyze scientific publications that address the dynamics of territorial development and the complexities of the Brazilian semi-arid region, emphasizing food production in the São Francisco Valley (VSF), the creative economy and the relevance of environmental education with a view to sustainability. This is a quali-quantitative, exploratory and bibliographic research, having as methodological strategy the systematic literature review with specific protocols, where only peer-reviewed articles were used, with a minimum Qualis of B2, in Portuguese, and a time frame of the last 5 years, using as a search tool the Capes Periodical Portal, through CAFe, and the Scientific Electronic Library Online by means of pre-defined descriptors with the application of refinement processes. The research findings point to the need to understand the particularities of semi-arid territories, the importance of food production in the VSF with a view to socio-territorial development, and the relevance of the Creative Economy Network and Environmental Education as tools for local sustainability.