Sunday: 31 January

18.00-20.00     Registration

Monday: 1 February

08.00 - 09.00   Registration, continued

09.00 – 10.15  Opening session

                        Guest of Honor: H.R.H. Prince El Hassan Bin Talal
                        Welcome by DG ICARDA, Dr Mahmoud Solh, on behalf of ICARDA and partners
                        Welcome by DG NCARE, Jordan, Dr Faisel Awawdeh
                        Statement by Chair of GFAR, Dr Adel El-Beltagy
                        Statement by H.E. Minister of Agriculture of Jordan, Eng Saeed Masri
                        Inaugural Address by H.E. Prime Minister of Jordan, Mr Samir Rifai
                        Guest of Honor Address: H.R.H. Prince El Hassan Bin Talal,
                                                              President, Higher Council of Science and Technology

10.15 - 11.00   Coffee break and group photo

11.00 - 12.30   Plenary session 1
                                  Co-chairs: Adel El-Beltagy, Gareth Wyn Jones
                        Impact of climate change on agriculture in the dry areas
                                                Mahendra Shah
                        Ensuring food security in a changing climate: how can science and technology help?
                                                Mahmoud Solh

12.30-13.30     Lunch break

13.30-15.00     Plenary session 2
                                    Co-chairs: Abera Deresa, Raj Paroda
                        India’s preparedness for food security in view of climate change
                                          Mangala Rai
                        Impact of climate change on drought in dry areas
                                          Donald A. Wilhite

15.30-17.30     Concurrent sessions - A

                       Theme 1-A: Current status of climate change in the dry areas: simulations and scenarios available
                                    Co-chairs: Mahendra Shah, Abdolali Mohamad Ghaffari
                        1.Mapping drought extent, severity and trends using the Standardized Precipitation Index
                       Eddy De Pauw
                       2. Generating a high-resolution climate raster dataset for climate change impact assessment in Central                             Asia and northwest China
                       François Delobel, Eddy De Pauw & Wolfgang Goebel
                       3. Analysis of Jordan’s vegetation cover dynamics using MODIS/NDVI from 2000-2009
                       Muna Saba, Ghada Al-Naber & Yasser Mohawesh
                       4. Application of the IHACRES rainfall-runoff model in semi-arid areas of Jordan
                       Eyad Abushandi & Broder Merkel

                       Theme 2-A: Impacts of climate change on natural resource availability (especially water), agricultural               
                       production systems and environmental degradation in dry areas
                                    Co-chairs: J.S. Samra, Abd Shukar Abd Rahman
                       1. Climate change and water: challenges and technological solutions in dry areas
                       M. Karrou & T. Oweis
                       2. A land suitability study under current and climate change scenarios in KRB, Iran
                       A. Gaffari, E. De Pauw & S.A. Mirghasemi
                       3. Coping with precipitation variability and soil moisture stress for agricultural productivity in the rainfed                            foothill region of the northwest Himalayas
                       S. Arora and M.S. Hadda
                       4. Desertification and its impacts on agriculture, biodiversity and water resources in drylands of Nigeria
                       Andrew I. Ayeni

                       Theme 3-A: Impacts of climate change on food security, livelihoods and poverty
                       Co-chairs: Solomon Assefa, Hammou Laamrani
                       1. Adaptation to climate change in dryland agriculture: issues and implications
                       Mohamed A.M. Ahmed
                       2. Food security in the occupied Palestinian territory
                       Jad Isaac & Nader Hrimat
                       3. Status of current food security in Palestine and future scenario under changing climates
                       Rezq Basheer-Salimia
                       4. Climate variability and rural livelihood: mitigating the impact of agriculture salinity in a changing
                       climate in Sri Lanka
                       Janaka Gamage

Tuesday: 2 February

09.00-10.30     Plenary session 3
                                    Co-chairs: Mahmoud Duwayri, Fahd Al Atiya
                       Applying a broadened genetic base in crop breeding
                       Calvin O. Qualset
                       Genetic resources, climate change and the future of food production
                       Luigi Guarino
                       Faba bean and its importance in food security in the developing countries
                       José Ignacio Cubero Salmerón, Carmen Avila & Ana Ma Torres

10.30-11.00     Coffee break

11.00-12.30     Plenary session 4
                                    Co-chairs: Khalfan Al-Naabi, Mangala Rai
                       Adaptation to climate change in Africa – the experience of Ethiopia
                        Abera Deresa
                       Changes in extreme climatic events and their management in India
                       J.S. Samra
                       The Green Morocco Plan in relation to food security and climate change
                       Mohamed Badraoui

12.30-13.30     Lunch break

13.30-15.00     Plenary session 5
                                    Co-chairs: Ayman Abu-Hadid, Donald Wilhite
                       Addressing concerns of climate change and food security in the Asia-Pacific region
                       Raj Paroda
                       Rethinking agricultural development of drylands: challenges of climatic changes
                       Awni Taimeh
                       Achieving ‘more crop per drop’ in a changing environment
                       Theib Oweis

15.00-15.30     Coffee break

15.30-17.30     Concurrent sessions – B

                       Theme 1-B: Current status of climate change in the dry areas: simulations and scenarios available
                       Co-chairs: Walid Tawil, Rana Kawar
                       1. Trend analysis for rainfall and temperatures in three locations in Jordan
                       Yahya Shakhatreh
                       2. Fluctuations of maximum temperature in Sudan during 1951-2004
                       I.M. Fawzia, H.H. Mohamed, A.A. El-Tantawi & A.M. Mostafa
                       3. Monitoring the vegetation dynamics as a response to climatic changes in the eastern Mediterranean
                        region using long-term AVHRR/NDVI and LANDSAT images
                       Z. Makhamreha
                       Theme 2-B: Impacts of climate change on natural resource availability (especially water), agricultural
                        production systems and environmental degradation in dry areas
                       Co-chairs: Saleh Bader, Jad Isaac
                       1. Predicting unmet irrigation water demands due to climate change in the lower Jordan River Basin
                       M. Haering, Emad Al-Karablieh, A. Salman, H. Gaese & S. Al Quran
                       2.Strategic planning for water resources management and agricultural development for drought
                        mitigation in Lebanon
                       Fadi Karam
                       3. Stream-flow response to climate variability in several sub-watersheds of the Sebou river basin, Morocco
                       Rachid Bouabid, Ali Chafai Elalaoui & Hakima Bahri
                       4. Impact of climate change on agricultural biodiversity and natural resource management in semi-arid
                        regions of Nyeri and Likipia districts, Kenya
                       P.N. Macharia et al.
                       5. Climatic change and wheat rust epidemics: implications to food security in dry areas
                       Kumarse Nazari, Ram C. Sharma & Abdelhamid Ramdan

                       Theme 4-B: Mitigation, adaptation and ecosystem resilience strategies including natural resource
                       management and crop improvement
                       Co-chairs: Calvin O. Qualset, Luigi Guarino
                       1. Plant genetic resources management and discovering genes for designing crops resilient to changing
                       climate
                       S.K. Sharma, I.S. Bisht & A. Sarker
                       2. Potential and relevance of dryland agrobiodiversity conservation to adapt to climate change adverse
                       effects
                       Ahmed Amri et al.
                        3. Reviving beneficial genetic diversity in dryland agriculture: a key issue to mitigate climate change
                        negative impact
                        Reza Hagparast et al.
                        4 .Conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources as a strategy in support of agriculture to
                        achieve food security and promote adaptation to climate change in the Near East and North Africa
                        Jozef Turok & El Tahir Ibrahim Mohamed
                        5. Plant breeding and climate change
                        Salvatore Ceccarelli et al.
                        6. Genotype x environment interaction for durum wheat yield in different climate and water regime
                        conditions in Iran
                        R. Mohammadi et al.

19.30-21.30     Conference dinner

 
Wednesday: 3 February

09.00-10.30     Plenary session 6
                           Co-chairs: Ahmed A. Goueli, Mohamed Badraoui
                        Impacts of climate change on food security and livelihoods
                        Mark W. Rosegrant
                        Policy and institutional approaches for coping with the impact of climate change on food security in the
                        dry areas of CWANA
                        Peter Hazell

10.30-11.00     Coffee break

11.00-12.30     Concurrent sessions-C

                        Theme 2-C: Impacts of climate change on natural resource availability (especially water), agricultural
                        production systems and environmental degradation in dry areas

                        Co-chairs: Sherali Nermatov, Jose I. Cubero

                        1. Impact of climate change on diseases of food legumes in the dry areas
                        Seid Ahmed, Muhammad Imtiaz, Shiv Kumar & Rajinder Malhotra
                        2. Implications of climate change on insects: case of cereal and legume crops in North Africa, West and
                        Central Asia
                        Mustapha Al Bouhssini
                        3. Climate change impact on weeds
                        Barakat Abu Irmaileh
                        4.Is climate change driving the indigenous livestock to extinction? A simulation study of Jordan’s
                        indigenous cattle
                        Raed M. Al-Atiyat

                        Theme 3-C: Impacts of climate change on food security, livelihoods and poverty
                        Co-chairs: Hukmatullo Ahmadov, Barbara Rischkowsky
                        1. Gender, food insecurity and climate change amongst pastoral communities: case studies in Mandera
                        and Turkana in northern Kenya
                        Nancy Omolo
                        2. Oil exploration, climate change and food security in Niger delta, Nigeria
                        Olutola O. Faloore
                        3. Climate change induced migration among farmers in dry land zones of Nigeria
                        Idowu O. Oladele
                        4.Effect of grazing on range plant community characteristics of landscape depressions in arid pastoral
                        ecosystems
                        Mounir Louhaichi, F. Ghassali & A.K. Salkini
                        5.Potential of triticale to mitigate impact of climate change on food security in crop-livestock systems in
                        non-tropical dry areas
                        N. Habib et al.

                        Theme 4-C: Mitigation, adaptation and ecosystem resilience strategies including natural resource
                        management and crop improvement
                        Co-chairs: Ahmed Nasser Al-Bakri, Taghrid Monjed Lahham
                        1. Thermo-tolerance studies for barley varieties from arid and temperate regions
                        M. N. Shahwani & Peter Dominy
                        2. Potential of improving and stabilizing wheat yields in the context of climate change
                        M. Karrou & O. Abdulla
                        3. Breeding food legumes for enhanced drought and heat tolerance to cope with climate change
                        M. Imtiaz, S. Kumar, F. Maalouf & R. Malhotra
                        4.Community-based breeding programs to exploit genetic potential of adapted local sheep breeds in
                        Ethiopia
                        A. Haile et al.

                        5.New feeding strategies for Awassi sheep in drought affected areas and their effect on product quality
                        M. Hilali, L. Iniguez, H. Mayer, W. Knaus, S. Schreiner, M. Zaklouta & M. Wurzinger

12.30-13.30     Lunch break

13.30-15.00     Concurrent sessions-D

                        Theme 4-D: Mitigation, adaptation and ecosystem resilience strategies including natural resource
                        management and crop improvement
                        Co-chairs: Abdulmalik K.H. Al Thawr, F.M. Muruzabal
                        1. Role of soil organic matter and balanced fertilization in combating land degradation and sustaining
                        crop productivity
                        Anand Swarup
                        2. Soil carbon sequestration: can it take the heat of global warming?
                        Rolf Sommer & Eddy De Pauw
                        3. Community-based reuse of gray water in home farming
                        Abeer Al-Balawenah, Esmat Al-Karadsheh & Manzoor Qadir
                        4. Mycorrhizal fungi role in reducing the impact of environmental climate change in arid regions
                        Ghazi N. Al-Karaki
                        5. Farmers’ perceptions and adaptation mechanisms to climate change in Amhara region of Ethiopia
                        Yihenew G. Selassie
                        6. Afforestation as a vehicle for climate change mitigation, sustainable development and empowerment
                        in Nigeria’s drylands
                        Andrew I. Ayeni

                        Theme 5-D: Policy options and institutional setups to ensure enabling environments to cope with climate
                        change impacts
                        Co-chairs: Peter Hazell, Turkey Abaidad
                        1. The impacts of wheat improvement research on poverty reduction in different agroecologies in dry
                        areas
                        Aden Aw-Hassan, A. Mazid, M. Sayedissa, J. Alwang, S. Kaitibie & G. Norton
                        2. Food security through community food bank and employment generation: a case study in Kurigram
                        district, Bangladesh
                        M. Nazrul Islam
                        3. Drought mitigation in Salamieh District: technological options for sustainable development
                        B. Lalani & M. Ali Al-Zein
                        4. Climate change demands refocusing the research agenda for food security in Central Asia and
                        Caucasus
                        Stefanie Christmann

15.00-15.30     Coffee break

15.30-16.30     Panel discussion
                       
                        Moderator:      Mahmoud Solh
                        Panelists:         Adel El-Beltagy, Mahmoud Duwayri, Ahmed A. Goueli,
                                               Peter Hazell, Mangla Rai, Gareth Wyn Jones

16.30-17.30     Concluding session & closing
                        Co-chairs: Mahmoud Solh, Mohan Saxena

• Recommendations
• Amman Declaration
• Closing statements

Thursday: 4 February

09.00-17.00                 Scientific field visit