Parties expected an increase in hyper arid, arid or semi arid areas under all climate change scenarios.

Background The Desertification Convention Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi arid, and dry sub humid areas.

The interlinkages can pose acute challenges for water and waste water management in arid and semi arid areas and also in small island developing States.

Moreover, the Ramsar Secretariat has added to its list of Ramsar sites several significant sites in arid, semi arid and sub humid areas in Algeria, Morocco, Mali and Niger.

A programme has been launched by one other country with the support of the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the International Programme for Arid Land Crops (IPALAC) in order to develop new farming methods and practices in arid areas.

In Asia, cooperation under TPN 2 on agroforestry and soil conservation in arid, semi arid and dry sub humid areas continued through a workshop that was organized in January 2005 in India.

Desertification is defined by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification as land degradation in arid, semi arid and dry sub humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities .

More targeted initiatives are being carried out in some countries to develop unconventional varieties of cereals and other plant varieties suited to drought and the specific conditions of arid and semi arid areas.

Recognizing that low lying and other small island countries, countries with low lying coastal, arid and semi arid areas or areas liable to floods, drought and desertification, and developing countries with fragile mountainous ecosystems, are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change,

Reasserting its commitment to promoting desertification control, eradicating extreme poverty, promoting sustainable development in arid, semi arid and dry sub humid areas and improving the livelihoods of people affected by drought and or desertification,

The stakeholders and institutions of the affected countries have not yet succeeded in adopting innovative and attractive approaches for medium and long term investments in their arid, semi arid and dry sub humid areas.

In 2004 the Organisation launched a project for sustainable management of marginal arid areas in north Africa and Asia.

Formally, the MA definition encompasses all lands where the climate is classified as dry sub humid, semi arid, arid or hyper arid.

The Asian TPN 3 on rangeland management in arid areas, including the fixation of shifting sand dunes, was launched in 2001.

While the first phase of the programme was devoted to the arid and semi arid areas recovering from drought through food for work activities, in 2003 166 community projects were carried out in the most food insecure districts.

Among the technology options for rural sanitation, for example, dry latrines conserve water, offering particular benefits in arid or drought prone areas.

There are indeed academies and research centres in the region specializing in the study of arid areas and management of water resources.

The countries most vulnerable to such changes small island developing States, coastal nations with large numbers of people living in low lying areas, and countries in the arid and semi arid tropics and subtropics are least able to protect themselves.

In the great majority of regions featuring arid, semi arid and dry sub humid areas, one of the major weaknesses of the monitoring evaluation systems is that they are not always designed to make optimum use of the existing equipment.

The Western Asia region has always experienced a low level of natural water availability, especially in arid or extremely arid climatic zones.

(j) Finally, since the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is recognised as a tool contributing to the goal of eliminating poverty, it would be appropriate to regard the level of investment for managing natural resources in arid, semi arid and dry sub humid areas as an important development indicator.

This report evaluates the condition of desertification in drylands, including hyper arid areas, by asking pointed questions and providing answers based exclusively on the reports generated for the MA.

UNESCO has also launched a scientific flagship project entitled Sustainable Integrated Management and Development of Arid and Semi Arid Regions of Southern Africa (SIMDAS) .

It is nevertheless demonstrated that in arid areas it is possible to provide for the needs of the populations, provided that at least minimal fertility of the land is preserved.

It is also noted that in a context of a sustained population dynamic in arid, semi arid and dry sub humid dry areas, the strategies to be devised must take account of the characteristics of the land that can be exploited in a sustainable way, so as to support the populations' lifestyles and ways of making a living.

So , you should worship only God , arid be among the grateful .

So , you should worship only God , arid be among the grateful .

Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands

The proper management of natural resources in semi arid, arid and sub humid zones based on sustained, long term investments must be considered as a major indicator of economic and social development.

Research efforts are aimed not only at increasing the productivity of cropping systems but also at ensuring that agriculture is sustainable, with the promotion of production systems suited to semi arid and arid ecosystems.

These zones, mostly characterized by arid and semi arid soils, receive little rain aside from some pockets of wetlands in the south west a Sahelian zone, which covers about 30 per cent of the territory.

African Union 72 75 13 Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and

For example, in Argentina aridity could expand in subtropical areas (north of latitude 40 S) due to an increase in temperature and evaporation, whereas in Armenia and Kazakhstan the arid area could expand by 20 40 per cent.

Efforts in the field of genetic research are focused on the development of conventional cereal, tree and other plant varieties which are suited to drought and the special conditions found in arid and semi arid zones.

Water supplies are increasingly under stress in large parts of the world, especially in the world s arid regions.

Much of the Mesozoic Era is represented by exposed outcrops in the many arid regions of the continent.

It is not particularly sensitive to soil moisture, although it does not grow in desert or arid conditions.

Some countries stated that they are concerned about the long term sustainability of their arid and marginal regions.

One of these studies was a Comparison of Traditional and Contemporary Water Management Systems in Arid Regions of Tunisia .

In response to the scarcity of water resources, several African countries, particularly those situated in arid and semi arid zones, have drawn up strategies for the preservation of underground water, which is in heavy demand as a result of rapid urbanization and the expansion of farming.

Some countries predicted a reduction of soil humidity by up to 30 per cent, thus increasing the arid areas by 33 per cent (e.g. Armenia), whereas others expected a decline in wheat production by 27 per cent (e.g. Kazakhstan) and land degradation from saltwater intrusion (e.g. Mauritius).

It is far from ports and international trade, lacks basic infrastructure such as roads and electricity, and is extremely arid.

Cattle herding allowed nomads to create livelihoods in an increasingly unpredictable and challenging environment, characterized by an arid climate and scarce resources.

More than ten million people are fighting for survival, mainly pastoralist communities in the hyper arid regions of Somalia, Ethiopia, and northern Kenya.

Sky Desert, ) is an arid natural region that covers about 36,700 km2 and is mostly in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China.