ICARDA News

INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN THE DRY AREAS
P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria
Phone: (963-21) 2213433, 2213477, 2225112, 2225012
Fax: (963-21) 2213490, 2225105; E-mail: ICARDA@CGIAR.ORG
Website: www.icarda.cgiar.org
21 October 2004
For more information contact:
Surendra Varma (s.varma@CGIAR.ORG)
Sustainable Development of Drylands
ICARDA hosted a workshop and inaugural meeting of the Regional WANA program Steering Committee meeting on 'Sustainable Development of Drylands in WANA on 10-12 October 2004.

Some 40 representatives from 11 countries of WANA (Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Iran), the UNCCD-Global Mechanism, the World Bank, AOAD, OSS, GTZ, and ACSAD attended a UNCCD-GM/ICARDA workshop on a regional programme for combating desertification and sustainable development of rainfed drylands in WANA. The workshop presented and discussed outcomes of the "Inventory and Gap Analysis" study, and country presentations, of UNCCD-related activities in the region that was conducted and prepared by ICARDA, in collaboration with the participating countries; identified common needs and drew up a plan to develop a project on capacity building to develop an enabling environment for mainstreaming combating desertification into government policy. These reports and activities were endorsed by the Steering Committee on the final day of the meeting and represented a first step towards implementation of the Regional WANA Program.

About ICARDA: Established in 1977, ICARDA (www.icarda.cgiar.org) serves the entire developing world for the improvement of barley, lentil, and faba bean; and dry-area developing countries for the on-farm management of water, improvement of nutrition and productivity of small ruminants (sheep and goats), and rehabilitation and management of rangelands. In the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region, ICARDA is responsible for the improvement of durum and bread wheats, chickpea, pasture and forage legumes and farming systems; and for the protection and enhancement of the natural resource base of water, land, and biodiversity.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (www.cgiar.org) is a strategic alliance of 62 members and 16 Future Harvest Centers that mobilizes cutting-edge science to promote sustainable development by reducing hunger and poverty, improving human nutrition and health, and protecting the environment.
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