NDRD

Gulf Cooperation Council
Network for Drylands Research & Development

شبكة دول
مجلس التعاون الخليجي لدراسات

الأراضي القاحلة و التطوير

Drylands Vegetation

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The native plant biodiversity of the Arabian Peninsula, which comprises roughly over 3500 species, is suffering from rapid depletion. According to a study conducted by ICARDA Arabian Peninsula Regional Program, working in collaboration with the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), and other institutions over 90% of the total area now suffers from some sort of overgrazing, and 44% is severely or very severely degraded. In this context, the entire sand dune system in the United Arab Emirates is for example subject to extensive grazing by camels and goats. An increasing part of the permanent pasture areas is subject to erosion because of plant cover loss due to overgrazing, particularly in the northern regions of Saudi Arabia and the southern parts of Oman.

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UNESCO’s Programme on
Man and the Biosphere (MAB)

The MAB Programme develops the foundation, within the natural and the social sciences, for the sustainable use and conservation of biological diversity, and for the improvement of the relationship between people and their environment globally. It encourages interdisciplinary research, demonstration and training in natural resource management. MAB contributes thus not only to better understanding of the environment, including global change, but to greater involvement of science and scientists in policy development concerning the wise use of biological diversity. more ...

MAB, in collaboration with ICARDA and UNU, has organized an international workshop on the 'Rehabilitation of Degraded Drylands and Biosphere Reserves', which was held in Aleppo (Syria) on 2-3 May 2002. The workshop concluded that biosphere reserves can be excellent testing and research sites for dryland rehabilitation. The Workshop Proceedings are available here in pdf format.