diff --git a/src/west/manifest-schema.yml b/src/west/manifest-schema.yml
index b964ef9c..6982300f 100644
--- a/src/west/manifest-schema.yml
+++ b/src/west/manifest-schema.yml
@@ -82,6 +82,10 @@ mapping:
           name:
             required: true
             type: str
+          # Project description. Has no effect.
+          description:
+            required: false
+            type: str
           # Name of the project's remote. May not be combined with "url".
           remote:
             required: false
diff --git a/src/west/manifest.py b/src/west/manifest.py
index 43727acd..fb6c6699 100644
--- a/src/west/manifest.py
+++ b/src/west/manifest.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@
 #: v1.0.x, so that users can say "I want schema version 1" instead of
 #: having to keep using '0.13', which was the previous version this
 #: changed.)
-SCHEMA_VERSION = '1.0'
+SCHEMA_VERSION = '1.2'
 # MAINTAINERS:
 #
 # - Make sure to update _VALID_SCHEMA_VERS if you change this.
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ class _defaults(NamedTuple):
 _EARLIEST_VER_STR = '0.6.99'  # we introduced the version feature after 0.6
 _VALID_SCHEMA_VERS = [
     _EARLIEST_VER_STR,
-    '0.7', '0.8', '0.9', '0.10', '0.12', '0.13',
+    '0.7', '0.8', '0.9', '0.10', '0.12', '0.13', '1.0',
     SCHEMA_VERSION
 ]
 
@@ -734,6 +734,7 @@ class Project:
     Attributes:
 
     - ``name``: project's unique name
+    - ``description``: project's description
     - ``url``: project fetch URL
     - ``revision``: revision to fetch from ``url`` when the
       project is updated
@@ -765,6 +766,7 @@ def __eq__(self, other):
 
     def __repr__(self):
         return (f'Project("{self.name}", "{self.url}", '
+                f'"{self.description}", '
                 f'revision="{self.revision}", path={repr(self.path)}, '
                 f'clone_depth={self.clone_depth}, '
                 f'west_commands={self.west_commands}, '
@@ -776,7 +778,7 @@ def __str__(self):
         path_repr = repr(self.abspath or self.path)
         return f'<Project {self.name} ({path_repr}) at {self.revision}>'
 
-    def __init__(self, name: str, url: str,
+    def __init__(self, name: str, description: Optional[str], url: str,
                  revision: Optional[str] = None,
                  path: Optional[PathType] = None,
                  submodules: SubmodulesType = False,
@@ -792,6 +794,7 @@ def __init__(self, name: str, url: str,
         (``abspath`` and ``posixpath``) will also be ``None``.
 
         :param name: project's ``name:`` attribute in the manifest
+        :param description: project's description or None
         :param url: fetch URL
         :param revision: fetch revision
         :param path: path (relative to topdir), or None for *name*
@@ -808,6 +811,7 @@ def __init__(self, name: str, url: str,
         '''
 
         self.name = name
+        self.description = description
         self.url = url
         self.submodules = submodules
         self.revision = revision or _DEFAULT_REV
@@ -849,12 +853,17 @@ def posixpath(self) -> Optional[str]:
     def name_and_path(self) -> str:
         return f'{self.name} ({self.path})'
 
+    @property
+    def description(self) -> Optional[str]:
+        return self.description
+
     def as_dict(self) -> Dict:
         '''Return a representation of this object as a dict, as it
         would be parsed from an equivalent YAML manifest.
         '''
         ret: Dict = {}
         ret['name'] = self.name
+        ret['description'] = self.description
         ret['url'] = self.url
         ret['revision'] = self.revision
         if self.path != self.name:
@@ -2276,6 +2285,7 @@ def _load_project(self, pd: Dict, url_bases: Dict[str, str],
         # manifest)
 
         name = pd['name']
+        description = pd.get('description')
 
         # The name "manifest" cannot be used as a project name; it
         # is reserved to refer to the manifest repository itself
@@ -2351,7 +2361,7 @@ def _load_project(self, pd: Dict, url_bases: Dict[str, str],
 
         userdata = pd.get('userdata')
 
-        ret = Project(name, url, pd.get('revision', defaults.revision), path,
+        ret = Project(name, description, url, pd.get('revision', defaults.revision), path,
                       submodules=self._load_submodules(pd.get('submodules'),
                                                        f'project {name}'),
                       clone_depth=pd.get('clone-depth'),