wo thematic meetings were held concurrently in Amman, on 3-5 October 2000, to review and discuss the methodologies, the progress made in the implementation of project activities, develop indicators for assessing the impact of project activities and identify the needs for training and technical backstopping.
1. Eleven scientists from Jordan, four each from Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority, three each from Syria and ICARDA and Dr Jad Isaac, an international expert, attended the thematic group meeting on ecogeographic and Geographic Information System (GIS)/Remote Sensing (RS) applications.
        Dr Isaac presented the possible use of GIS/RS tools in agriculture with the emphasis on biodiversity issues. Under his guidance, the groups developed the types of GIS software and the GIS layers and parameters for each study level (target areas, project sites, and monitoring areas). The Palestinian Component shared with participants examples of the applications of GIS/RS tools for the project activities. Also shared was the database for eco-geographic/botanic surveys developed by the Palestinian Component with the help of Ms Shelagh Kell, an international expert.
2. The thematic group on socioeconomic surveys was attended by three scientists from Jordan, one each from Lebanon and ICARDA, two from the Palestinian Authority, and three from Syria. The group, under the guidance of Dr A. Belaid, and following the presentations of progress made by the national components, agreed on the need for minimum socioeconomic data in order to acquire a reasonable understanding of agrobiodiversity management and conservation.
        The group also agreed to prepare the final socioeconomic study reports by the end of June 2001, finish a survey in local knowledge on biodiversity through a rapid rural appraisal by the end of March 2001 and to document success stories showing the importance of conservation of agrobiodiversity of target species.
        At the closing session, Dr A. Amri expressed his thanks to all the participants in the two thematic group meetings and to the international experts for their valuable contributions, to the Dean of Agriculture and the University of Jordan, to the Jordanian project team and to the office staff of ICARDA in Amman for the excellent arrangements. The outcome of these thematic meetings showed once again their importance in enhancing the regionality of the project.

he second Consultation Meeting of Project Managers was held in Amman, Jordan on 1-2 October 2000 to discuss the progress in implementing project activities, the need for training and technical backstopping and the harmonization of project activities. This meeting was attended by Dr W. Khoury, Lebanon; Dr M. Ajlouni, Jordan; Mr Y. Sbeih and Mr A. El-Lahham, Palestinian Authority and Mr A. Khnifis, Mr I. Naji, and Mr A. Al-Khatib, Syria; and Dr A. Amri, Regional Coordinator.
        The participants, after reviewing the recommendations of the second regional technical and planning and the second steering committee meetings, discussed the terms of reference for the thematic group developed by the Regional Coordinator to ensure a common scientific basis for the project activities.
        Dr Abu Zant, rangeland expert from Jordan, presented the type of activities for rehabilitating and improving rangelands. He will develop survey forms and a list of indicators for rangeland management for use by all project components. The methodologies for diverse field demonstration trials were discussed at length during the meeting.
        The main recommendations of this meeting were:
- To continue collecting the seeds of local germplasm for conservation, increase
  and diversity studies;
- To develop materials for the production of a video documentary on the project
  strategy and activities at the national and regional levels and provide stories and   
  information for the project website and Newsletter;
- To organize a regional traveling workshop for the benefit of the partner farmers
  from the participating countries to enable them to visit the project sites in at least
  two of the participating countries.