Israel Hosts Desertification Conference

Clockwise from left: Professor Alon Tal opening the Conference; Luc Gnacadja Executive Secretary of the UNCCD; and Professor Michael Rosenzweig, University of Arizona.

Ben Gurion University in Beersheva, Israel, hosted the Third International Conference on Drylands, Desert and Desertification, November 8 – 11.   Co-sponsored by UNESCO, the US Embassy, and Israeli environmental NGOs among others, the conference drew over 400 participants from 62 different countries to the Negev Desert campus in Sde Boqer.   In opening the plenary session and his keynote address, the Executive Director of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Luc Gnacadja from Benin stressed the importance of the issue.  Nearly 41 percent of the earth’s land area is drylands, and this percentage is growing due to poor farming practices, deforestation, changes in weather patterns and climate change.   Drylands nonetheless yield 44 percent of food grains on which the world’s population survives, and decreasing productivity of drylands agriculture puts one billion people at  food risk.  BGU Professor Alon Tal, one of Israel’s leading environmentalists, stated that we have the tools to address these problems through intelligent land use.  Tal called for policymakers and citizens to say no to actions and policies that place the environment at risk.  Tackling development in desertifying environments requires an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach, he noted.  (Ben Gurion University is noted for its interdisciplinary desert studies program.)

The United States was well represented at the conference, with USG speakers from the Department of Agriculture, Department of Interior, NASA and US Forest Service, and academic presenters University of Arizona, Texas Tech, Penn State and others.  Papers delivered at the Conference covered a tremendous variety of topics, ranging from reforestation of croplands to satellite remote sensing research on soils to ecologically appropriate desert architecture.  Embassy ESTH Office and Public Diplomacy Office attended as well; an Embassy grant supported the publication of the Conference Speakers' presentations and proceedings.