Desertification Links

1. Factual links

   Some of the websites providing reliable scientific information on Desertification:

   • 1.1 Reports by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA)
   • 1.2 Other international institutions addressing desertification
   • 1.3 Other websites related to desertification
2. Partner links

See also our page containing sites linking to this Digest

 

1. Factual links

1.1 Reports by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA)

Besides the "Desertification Synthesis" Report (summarized by GreenFacts in this Biodiversity study) the MA has published a series of other relevant reports on its website: www.millenniumassessment.org 

• One over-arching synthesis report Ecosystems & Human Well-being" (see also the Ecosystem Change summary by GreenFacts):
  www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Framework.aspx#download 
• Five specific synthesis reports on Biodiversity, Desertification, Business & Industry, Wetlands & Water, and Health, as well as a Framework for Assessment: www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Synthesis.aspx 
• Global Assessment Reports:
  • Current State and Trends: www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Condition.aspx 
    (see for instance Chapter 4: Biodiversity)
  • Scenarios: www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Scenarios.aspx 
    (see for instance Chapter 10: Biodiversity across scenarios)
  • Policy Responses: www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Responses.aspx 
• Thirty-three sub-global assessments: www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Multiscale.aspx , focusing on specific regions.

See table of contents of MA reports 

1.2 Other international institutions addressing desertification

• The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) provides all kinds of information on desertification at: www.unccd.int/ , including FAQs on desertification at: www.unccd.int/knowledge/faq.php 
• The UN World Day to combat Desertification and Drought:
  www.un.org/events/desertification/2008/ 
• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) proposes a website on desertification which aims to assist stakeholders and networks involved in sustainable development of drylands and in particular in the implementation of the UNCCD: www.fao.org/desertification/ , and an information base website entitled "Properties and Management of Drylands" containing general information on drylands and specialized information on dryland management practices and strategies: www.fao.org/ag/agl/agll/drylands/index.htm 
• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) provides different desertification-related webpages, including one presenting the Global Deserts Outlook at: www.unep.org/geo/gdoutlook/, and one ont the "UNEP Programme on Success Stories in Land Degradation/ Desertification Control" at:
  www.unep.org/desertification/successstories/ 
• The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) provides a webpage on drylands and desertification at: www.unesco.org/mab/ecosyst/drylands.shtml , which links to the conclusions of the International Scientific Conference on Desertification and Drylands Research held in Tunis in 2006: www.unesco.org/mab/ecosyst/futureDrylands.shtml 
• The Website of the International Year of Freshwater 2003, an initiative by the UN, has a section on Desertification and Drought:
  www.wateryear2003.org/ 
• Factsheet on Desertification, provided by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD):
   www.ifad.org/pub/factsheet/desert/e.pdf

1.3 Other websites related to desertification

• The official website of the International Year of Deserts and Desertification – 2006: www.iydd2006.org 
• The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences of the University of Arizona houses the UNCCD Information Network Project Database at: http://ag.arizona.edu/cgi-bin/cstccd.cgi 
• Drylandscope provides a "platform for the accumulation and refinement of knowledge pertinent to the needs of primary stakeholders in affected drylands" at: www.drylandscope.org/index.html 
• The Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) published on its website a report entitled "Desertification: A Tale of Two Feedbacks" which addresses different aspects of desertification at: www.icsu-scope.org/downloadpubs/scope45/chapter04.html 
• Oasis, a "global agricultural research-for-development partnership against desertification", offers information on desertification at: www.oasisglobal.net/ 
• The International Arid Lands Consortium (IALC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to exploring the problems and solutions unique to arid and semiarid regions, provides facts and maps on deserts and arid lands at: http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/IALC/desertfacts.html 

 

2. Partner links

Web pages of GreenFacts' partners providing information relevant to desertification:

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) provides a webpage entitled "Desertification and land degradation "

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) announces its contribution to the International Year of Deserts and Desertification at: www.sdc.admin.ch