Poverty in the Near East and North Africa region (NENA) is mainly a rural phenomenon. Almost half (48%) the area’s population lives in rural areas. This report focuses on key rural poverty issues in 13 diverse countries in the region, without attempting to propose policy or programme actions at…

This report looks at possible ways for policy-makers and decision-takers to combat and/or prevent land degradation in the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) region, both generally and specifically in the following countries: Egypt, Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates…

The Hima is a traditional system of resource tenure that has been practiced for more than 1400 years in the Arabian Peninsular. With the numerous deteriorations that came and halted advancement in the Arab world, and at times for different reasons, the Hima also declined. The progressive…

FAO has initiated a series of global and regional sector outlook studies to examine linkages between forests and societies and to indicate emerging opportunities and challenges. The Forestry Outlook Study for West and Central Asia (FOWECA) has considered these issues through an extended…

This report describes the use of improved methodologies developed for identifying water-harvesting sites. It also provides general guidelines for determining site potential in relation to various parameters. The approach integrates multi-disciplinary knowledge, use of GIS, and verification in…

This report presents descriptive statistics derived from the survey data. It simply describes the situation in the
Badia in spring 2005. Further ecological and economical analyses and conclusions will be reported in
another document.

This introductory section covers the period since the submission of the last Mid-Term
Plan until present, and concentrates on the following areas:
> Principal areas of progress.
> Developments in 2005 and early 2006.
> Changes to the CPMT strategic…

At this point – just under half way (two years and six months) in the implementation of the first CPWF phase (and three years and eight months since inception began) governance and management processes are running smoothly, it is in reasonable financial health and technical processes – such as…

The aim of this paper is to contribute to a more holistic understanding of farmers’ decision making process for innovations in soil conservation. In this study, farmers’ decision making has been explored in the context of a mountainous olive growing area in northwest Syria, where evidences of…

In the Mediterranean mountain areas of NW Syria, land degradation is a serious problem (Masri et al, 2005). Olive orchards dominate the landscape in Afrin area, and olive oil represents the most important cash income source for rural communities in this area. However, olive yields in many…

This report highlights the potentially significant impacts on the hydrologic cycle and the importance of considering secondary effects, particularly with regard to water, resulting from the widespread adoption of global climate change mitigation measures. It is recommended that the implicit…

This collection of articles looks at the role of natural resources in Western Sahara and outlines the framework for Western Sahara’s independence from Morocco.There is no doubt that the question of the natural resources of Western Sahara such as fish, oil and phosphates has been the main reason…