The conference, entitled "Deserts and Desertification: Challenges and Opportunities," is sponsored by the Blaustein Institute of Desert Research (BIDR), Ben-Gurion University, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. With the exception of several field tours into Israel's reclaimed and existing desert areas, the daily lectures will be taking place on the S'dei Boker campus of Ben-Gurion University. The conference is focusing on how to confront and ameliorate factors leading to desertification, with much emphasis on the Israeli experience and its lessons for other nations.
The approximately 300 attendees hail from 20 countries spread over five continents. Keynote speakers include: Amb. Hama Arba Diallo, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification; Dr. David A. Mouat, Chairman of the experts group of the UNCCD Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada; Dr. Vandana Shiva, Founder of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in New Delhi, India; Professor Wangarai Maathai, Deputy Minister of the Environment of Kenya and a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
The conference is part of international activities marking 2006 as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification, as declared by the United Nations. The UN designation was made in recognition of the acute problem of desertification, or land degradation, worldwide. Desertification, according to the BIDR's conference website, is responsible for the loss of agricultural productivity, famine and population displacement, as well as the escalation of poverty; it affects about four hundred million people in developing regions, especially in Africa.
Israel was selected as a unique and uniquely appropriate venue for the desertification conference due to its rich history of rolling back the desert through innovation and tenacity. When the state was established in 1948, much of its semi-arid regions were degraded and the Negev desert had expanded northward all the way to the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem corridor. Since that time, a combination of intensive drylands agriculture, afforestation and economic initiatives reclaimed tens of thousands of hectares for farming, residential construction and industrial parks.
The approximately 300 attendees hail from 20 countries spread over five continents. Keynote speakers include: Amb. Hama Arba Diallo, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification; Dr. David A. Mouat, Chairman of the experts group of the UNCCD Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada; Dr. Vandana Shiva, Founder of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in New Delhi, India; Professor Wangarai Maathai, Deputy Minister of the Environment of Kenya and a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
The conference is part of international activities marking 2006 as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification, as declared by the United Nations. The UN designation was made in recognition of the acute problem of desertification, or land degradation, worldwide. Desertification, according to the BIDR's conference website, is responsible for the loss of agricultural productivity, famine and population displacement, as well as the escalation of poverty; it affects about four hundred million people in developing regions, especially in Africa.
Israel was selected as a unique and uniquely appropriate venue for the desertification conference due to its rich history of rolling back the desert through innovation and tenacity. When the state was established in 1948, much of its semi-arid regions were degraded and the Negev desert had expanded northward all the way to the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem corridor. Since that time, a combination of intensive drylands agriculture, afforestation and economic initiatives reclaimed tens of thousands of hectares for farming, residential construction and industrial parks.