Links between ICARDA and Spain are long established. A glance at any map of the Mediterranean will help explain why both have benefited from this collaboration. Spain is an active member of the European Union but it is also separated geographically by just a handful of kilometers from part of ICARDA's mandate area—North Africa. In history, the connection has been even closer, both politically and culturally, when southern Spain came under the influence of the Arab world.

Desertification occurs in drylands,which span a third of the earth ’s land surface in over 110 countries.It influences the lives of about 500 000 people – the so-called environmental refugees –including many of the world ’s poorest and most marginalized populations. Each year 12 million hectares (ha)are lost to deserts.That is enough land to grow 20 million tonnes of grain.

Este nmero de Unasylva se ocupa de las tcnicas, pero tambin de los aspectos polticos y sociales, de la rehabilitacin forestal de determinados espacios degradados.

Ce numro d'Unasylva se concentre sur les aspects techniques, mais aussi politiques et sociaux, de la rcupration de sites spcifiques, par des activits forestires.

Issues relating to land and land reform have been moving up the agenda of rural poverty and food security in recent years with the increasing acceptance that the prerequisites for broad-based and equitable development include the essential need for people to have access to land and other natural resources. Access needs to be on an equitable basis allowing the poor and the disadvantaged, including women, to secure the assets needed for them and their families to generate sustainable livelihoods.