During the last two decades, the Tunisian government has engaged in a vast program for the conservation and mobilization of natural resources. In the Jeffara region, which encompasses the study site, huge works for soil and water conservation (water harvesting) have been implemented whose…

Globally, according to FRA 2000, planted forests accounted for only 5% of forest area, but up to 35% of industrial roundwood supply. This is anticipated to rise to 40-44% by 2020. Planted forests reflect a higher social, environmental and economic importance than their area would suggest. Many…

The current volume presents the Proceedings of an important meeting entitled "Regional Expert Consultation on Land Degradation, Plant, Animal and Human Nutrition: Inter-relation and Impact". This scientific gathering managed to have a group of soil scientists/plant nutrition…

1. Degradation of natural resources is a significant constraint to sustainable agricultural development in many developing countries. In particular, water scarcity is a major threat to achieving food security and reducing poverty. Better water management, therefore, is critical to reaching…

This publication considers fisheries management policies in the Mediterranean in the light of the new objectives of sustainability and governance. Emphasis is put on the decentralization of public action and the reform of institutional mechanisms.The first chapter assesses the historical and…

This report shows a broad range of statistics pertaining to world food and agriculture. It presents, where appropriate, the differences between developed and developing countries, continents and regions. It is hoped that managers and policy-makers dealing with international issues relating to…

Sont créés au sein de l'institut des régions arides de Médenine, les laboratoires suivants: - laboratoire d'éromologie et lutte contre la désertification; - laboratoire d'écologie pastorale dans les régions arides et désertiques;- laboratoire d'élevage et de la faune sauvage…

Session: Sess. 3

Apart from a decrease in total perennial plant cover, degradation of North-African arid lands is not easy to qualify. Yet, simple and comprehensive yardsticks are necessary to assess degradation. We assigned components of competitive ability (C), stress tolerance (S) and ruderality (R) to 15…

The global reproduction of food, notably cereal crops, appears to have been remarkably resilient to the vagaries of climate. The unsung hero in this production chain may well be groundwater. When rainfed agriculture fails, the fallback is usually groundwater. First it is accessed to smooth over…

This report summarizes the findings of the e-mail conference that took place from 9 October to 4 November 2002 and which was organized by the Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands project (LADA). The report contains exchanges of views on data sets and methods that may be used to assess land…