The dry areas face severe challenges to sustainable development. The biggest challenges – food insecurity, water scarcity, land degradation, and climate change – are closely inter-related. The effects of climate change will be felt globally, but the dry areas will be particularly hard hit. Climate change will exacerbate water scarcity, rainfall variability, and the decline in the natural resource base, and thus could have a profound impact on food security.

Linear models were used to investigate the relationship between vegetation tiers (altitudinal vegetation zones) and variables derived from a digital elevation model - elevation and potential global radiation. The model was based on a sample of 138 plots located from the 2nd to the 5th vegetation tier. Potential global radiation was computed in r.sun module in geographic information system GRASS. The final model explained 84% of data variability and employed variables were found to be sufficient for modelling vegetation tiers in the study area.

Tribal land management constitutes the largest of the three main tenure types that prevail in Botswana (tribal, State, and freehold). The land inventory is a means to support land administration, land development, land use planning, land transactions and natural resources management in Botswana. The land inventory is currently web based and GIS-enabled through the Tribal Land Information Management Systems and the State Land Information Management System. These systems now play a key role in land-related policy and management decisions.

Distiribution of erosion and its grade exited by climatic and topographic conditions was carried out depending on slope in Coruh watershed. Data necessary for determining of violence and grade of erosion having importance for relation between soil and plant were obtained from Erzurum province land resources map (1/100.000 scale) prepared by the General Direction of the Rural Work in 2000. The ArcGIS 9.1 sotware was used for digitalizing the map. It was determined that soils of the study area higly exposed to erosion and this situation is continue.

Germplasm of the calabash tree (Crescentia cujete L.) was collected in five major regions of Colombia, i.e. the Andes, Caribbean, Amazon, Orinoco, and Pacific regions. Collecting this multipurpose tree was guided by the indigenous knowledge of farmers and artisans in each region. Large variation in fruit shapes and sizes was found, of which some forms were typical for certain regions. Overall 56 accessions were collected and roughly classified into 22 types by eight fruit shapes and eight sizes.

This project aims to identify the risks and benefits associated with the use of wastewater in urban and peri-urban fodder and vegetable cropping systems in India and Pakistan, where wastewater is largely untreated due to lack of public finance. Two mega-cities (Faisalabad, Pakistan and Hyderabad, India, with large untreated wastewater irrigation areas have been selected a) for comparative purposes and b) to develop and promote country-specific risk mitigation options.

OBJETIVO: Identificar zonas geográficas de América Latina y el Caribe para la biofortificación de cultivos básicos como frijol, maíz, arroz, yuca y batata, contribuyendo así a reducir las deficiencias nutricionales en la Región.