Desertification
About this Digest on Desertification
1. Sources for this Digest
An attractive PDF version of the Level 1 summary
(6 pages, 0.74 MB)
The material content of the texts on Level 3 is directly sourced from 
This MA report synthesizes and integrates findings related to desertification from the four MA Working Groups: Conditions and Trends, Scenarios, Responses and Sub-global Assessments, in response to requests for information received through the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, (UNCCD).
Involving some 1,360 of the world's leading experts, the MA is a partnership among several international organizations, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Convention on Migratory Species, five UN agencies (WHO , FAO , UNESCO , UNEP , UNDP ), the World Bank, and IUCN .
The Levels 1 & 2 summaries of this report were written by the GreenFacts Editorial Team.
2. Current Status
Approved for publication by the GreenFacts Scientific Board.
3. Digest Publication History
The GreenFacts publication process is designed to ensure as high a degree of objectivity as possible.
First draft
The first draft of this Digest was produced by the GreenFacts Editorial Team on 28 July 2006.
Second draft
The second draft of this Digest has been produced on 15 August 2006 by the GreenFacts Editorial Team
Preliminary and Peer review
The final draft of this Digest was produced on 22 September 2006 by GreenFacts after pre-review by an expert from the industry (see our 
These reviewers included for instance:
- Dr Zafar Adeel - Director of the United Nations University - International Network on Water, Environment & Health (UNU-INWEH).
- Uriel N. Safriel - Ecologist, Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
- Per Rydén - Consultant, Environment Department, The World Bank.
Final corrections were added under the supervision of the GreenFacts Scientific Board in September 2006.
Publication
Final publication was authorized by the President of the GreenFacts Scientific Board on 1 October 2006.
Press Release
21 Dec. 2006: International Year on Deserts and Desertification 2006
Updates or subsequent post-publication revisions
No update or revision at present.
Partners for this publication
The Levels 1 & 2 of this Digest are summaries of "Ecosystems & Human Well-being: Desertification Synthesis", a report published in 2005 by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA).
The summaries were produced by GreenFacts in collaboration with:
