The International Center for Arid and Semiarid Land Studies (ICASALS) at Texas Tech University was created in 1966 to promote the university's special mission of the interdisciplinary study of arid and semiarid environments and the human relationship to these environments from an international perspective. The purpose of ICASALS is to stimulate, coordinate and implement teaching, research, and public service activities concerning all aspects of the world's arid and semiarid regions, their people and their problems.

Global Network of Dryland Research

Institutes Declaration

 

The 8th International Conference on Drylands, Deserts and Desertification (DDD) was held at the Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, from 27 November to 1 December of 2022.

Acknowledging that drylands cover more than 47% of all terrestrial land and are home to more than 2 billion people, the theme of the conference was "Learning from Drylands: a global effort towards ecosystem restoration". With far-reaching environmental, social, and economic consequences, climate change, land degradation and increased desertification present an unparalleled threat to terrestrial areas in general and drylands, in particular.  

Despite their importance, current knowledge and research efforts aimed at understanding the long-term effects of natural and anthropogenic-driven changes on dryland ecosystems (for example, biodiversity loss, increased poverty, increased food insecurity, and climate-driven migration, to name a few) are still limited in scope and scale. Recognizing these needs, delegates from nine institutes (eight countries) who focus their research on drylands held round-table discussions aimed at presenting a unified front to these challenges.

With full support from all attendants, we agreed to form a Global Network of Dryland Research Institutes (GNDRI) with the goal of promoting institutional interactions for increased cooperation and to generate complementarities and synergies in research, education, training and outreach relevant to the conservation, sustainable use and restoration of drylands worldwide.

The full text of the Declaration can be found here.

Representatives from nine institutes (see list at the bottom of Declaration above) from eight different countries.

From left to right, front: Nurit Agam (Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev [BGU], Israel), Merav Seifan (The Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies, BGU), Quirico Migheli (Desertification Research Centre, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Italy), Jorge Salazar-Bravo (International Center for Arid and Semiarid Land Studies, Texas Tech University, USA), Abdelghani Chehbouni (Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco).

Back: Shimon Rachmilevitch (Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, BGU), Vijay Kumar (Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology, India), Uriel Safriel (ret. Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, BGU), Helene Maria Abraham (CONICET, IADIZA – CCT CONICET Mendoza, Argentina), Noam Weisbrod (Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, BGU), Ute Schmiedel (University of Hamburg, Germany), Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald (Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, A.C., Mexico), Mauro Centritto (UNCCD CSO Panel), Giuseppe Enne (Desertification Research Centre, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Italy), and Barron Orr (UNCCD Lead Scientist).