Briefings on major achievements of the GEF/UNDP Agrobiodiversity Project (first year)
he GEF/UNDP regional project 'Conservation and sustainable use of dryland agrobiodiversity', implemented in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority, has completed its first year, with its activities centered on:
• Establishing Project Management Units;
• Selecting project sites and monitoring areas;
• Contacts with local communities and initiation of public
  awareness activities;
• Conducting socio-economic surveys to assess the use of tar
  get species and related local knowledge;
• Conducting eco-geographic and botanical surveys to assess
  the distribution and abundance of target species, and
  collecting seeds of target crops and their wild relatives; and,
• Training of project staff and organization of farmers'
  workshops.
        The Project Management Units are located within the national implementing institutions:
Syria: Directorate of Scientific Agricultural Research (DASR)
Jordan: National Center for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer (NCARTT)
Lebanon: Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI)
The Palestinian Authority: Ministry of Agriculture
Regional Component: ICARDA-Genetic Resource Unit
        The project staff were recruited, and the necessary office equipment and supplies were purchased. Activities were executed by the project staff, the staff of the national implementing agencies, and the contracted national and international experts and institutions. Local NGOs in Lebanon and in the Palestinian Authority, and the extension services in all participating countries, were extensively involved in executing some of the activities, and in establishing good relations with local communities within the target areas. Links with agricultural development projects implemented in the project areas were initiated. National Steering Committees were established, which subsequently met twice or more to discuss work plans and major achievements.
        The National Components made more than 12 visits to target areas. With the help of international expertise and the Regional Coordinator, they selected project sites and monitoring areas based on the presence of target species, representation of major ecosystems and farming systems, and the willingness of local communities to participate in conservation efforts.
        The target areas (Table 1) ranged from very dry ecosystems as in the Muwaqqar area in Jordan and Hebron in Palestinian Authority, to semi-arid ecosystems in Ajloun (Jordan), Jennin (Palestinian Authority), Arsaal (Lebanon) and Sweida (Syria), to high-rainfall areas as in Al-Haffeh (Syria), Ham, Maaraboun and Nabha (Lebanon).
        The environmental diversity covered by the selected project sites and monitoring areas will allow mutual benefit sharing among the Project Components, and justify the regionality of

the project. A total of 29 project sites (Table 1), and more than 60 monitoring areas were selected.
        The selected project sites covered the diversity of ecosystems and predominant farming systems, ranging from highly degraded rangelands, to intensive farming. The monitoring areas were mainly selected in natural ecosystems to allow the assessment of distribution of wild target and forage species, and to monitor their changes over time following the application of some management technologies to be promoted within this project.
        Eco-geographic and botanical surveys were conducted in most of the monitoring areas for annual species, and were initiated in June 2000 for fruit trees and their wild relatives. The preliminary results clearly show the effect of overgrazing and land reclamation on the biodiversity of fruit trees and wild relatives of crops. At Sweida, Ajloun, and Al-Haffeh, wild fruit tree species were highly affected by land reclamation to introduce apple, cherry, and olive plantations. The forests and rangelands at Hebron, Mouwaqqar, Sweida, and Arsaal were highly overgrazed. Landraces of cereals and lentils are still grown at the project sites. Durum wheat landraces are highly mixed with bread wheat and barley. The occurrence of wild Triticum species has diminished drastically compared to the data collected over the last 10 years, available at ICARDA-GRU. Herbaria of target species and other species were established. Seeds of cereals and lentil landraces, and their wild relatives and forage species were collected. The Project Managers were provided with all information on target species from databases available