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Dryland forests and agrosilvopastoral systems 

WeCaN woman champion Dunia Baroud El-Khoury: From newlywed to WeCaN representative at the UNCCD CoP15 2022
09/06/2022
Dunia Baroud El-Khoury has just returned to her home in Lebanon after representing WeCaN at the UNCCD 15th Conference of the Parties (CoP) in Abidjian, Côte d’ivoire. Over the span...
Latest FAO technical report on drylands livestock moves closer to publication
02/06/2022
FAO’s technical report on silvopastoralism moved another step towards its launch this week, after the advisory committee held their third meeting to finalize key findings and recommendations.  The technical paper, entitled...
Voicing Women and Civil Society – WeCaN's journey at UNCCD COP 15
16/05/2022
Women must join forces and fight desertification: that is the key message from Dunia Baroud El-Khoury, a member of FAO’s WeCaN initiative, at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification’s...
WeCaN woman champion Asha Elkarib: Despite trials and tribulations, progress finds its way in Sudan
09/05/2022
Meet Asha Elkarib, a women’s rights defender from the Sudanese Organization for Research and Development (SORD) and a focal point member for FAO’s WeCaN in Sudan. Talking from Sudan via WhatsApp...
Twenty WeCaN members complete training session on women’s advocacy, gender and climate
29/04/2022
WeCaN members completed the first of a series of training sessions on Friday, designed to boost women’s leadership and advocacy at high-level climate change dialogues.  The first training session of the...
Making Every Voice Count for Adaptive Management Initiative: capturing best practices and sharing knowledge in dryland regions
22/04/2022
The ‘Making Every Voice Count for Adaptive Management’ (MEV-CAM) initiative has launched into action, collecting important knowledge from communities on the ground in dryland areas.   Led by the Dryland Forestry team...
WeCaN woman champion Kaossara Sani urges: "Climate justice now! Stop talking, take action!"
08/03/2022
WeCaN Young Woman Champion for Sahel Region   Young activists are speaking out about the urgency of reducing carbon emissions, and they are leading change within their own communities. Indeed, for every...
Launch of the “Making Every Voice Count for Adaptive Management” (MEV-CAM) Participatory Video trainings
07/03/2022
The theory of change that includes better integration between the local community and decision makers has proven to bring about better tangible results. Shifting towards participatory systems that engage different...
Climate action after COP26: Gender responsiveness from local to global
23/12/2021
On Monday, December 20, 2021, FAO’s Dryland Forestry team hosted the webinar “Climate action after COP26: Gender responsiveness from local to global” as part of the Forestry Technical Network (FTN) series....
Second Session of the COFO WG: Innovative forestry approaches needed to boost food security in drylands
25/11/2021
Boosting the capacity of forests and agrosilvopastoral systems in drylands to alleviate poverty and contribute to food security was the focus of an expert meeting during the second session of...
What did you wish for International Day of Rural Women?
22/10/2021
Women everywhere are fundamental reservoirs of knowledge, expertise and skills. Even more so, rural women, possess finetuned capacities and understandings that are essential to sustaining food systems and preserving the environment, offering innovative...
WeCaN Unite Champions from Dryland regions: WeCaN first Workshop - 29 September 2021
30/09/2021
The new WeCaN Community of Practice for women in dryland regions kicked off its first workshop yesterday, 29 September 2021, welcoming nearly 50 members from across the globe! What initially started as eight countries quickly emerged into sixteen across
Lasting peace in drylands means addressing climate, conflict and land degradation
27/09/2021
Forestry discussion paper launched at UN Food Systems Summit in New York
Forestry Technical Network Webinar: “Drylands: at the crossroads between climate change and conflict”
02/08/2021
On Tuesday, 29 July 2021, FAO’s Dryland Forestry team hosted the webinar “Drylands: at the crossroads between climate change and conflict” as part of the Forestry Technical Network (FTN) series....
Recover, Restore, Protect: the International Day to Combat Drought and Desertification
18/06/2021
Once more, the Dryland Forestry team cut across silos and joined efforts with the Land and Water Division of FAO to celebrate Desertification and Drought Day! One-quarter of the global land...
Accelerating Action on the Ground: GLF Launch of the Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring (FERM) and the Dryland Restoration Initiative Platform (DRIP)
10/06/2021
On 3 June 2021, FAO’s Forestry Division held a side event at the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF). This year, the Forum celebrated the importance of Drylands and the need for...
Ambitious $104 million program targets land degradation in Africa and Central Asian countries
09/06/2021
Launch of the FAO-led, Global Environment Facility-funded initiative paves the way for UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration The global launch of a $104 million initiative signals an ambitious effort by a...
Presumed Drylands: A first assessment of challenges and opportunities in moving towards land degradation neutrality
20/05/2021
The drylands have been defined as all land for which the aridity index – that is, the ratio between average annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration – lies below 0.65. However, considerable...
Forestry Technical Network Webinar: Learning from a living archive – local communities owning the change, monitoring the progress and communicating the impact
04/05/2021
“The act of portrayal itself can be seen as a way of capturing agency” On Tuesday, 4 May 2021, the Dryland Forestry Team hosted a Forestry Technical Network (FTN) webinar called...
Filming for more resilient food systems? The participatory video approach is spreading
31/03/2021
The Resilient Food Systems (RFS) programme is one of three Integrated Approach Pilot programmes financed by GEF during the Sixth Replenishment Cycle (GEF-6). It aims to improve the resilience and sustainability of...
Guidelines for good forestry and range practices in arid and semi-arid zones of the near east
02/03/2009

The Near East Region (including North Africa) includes a variety of climates but the xeric, arid and semi-arid conditions dominate. Forestry and foresters need to incorporate all the wealth yielded by...

Unasylva - No. 197 - Mediterranean Forests
28/02/1999

Vast expanses of dense forest may not be a typical Mediterranean image - Mediterranean forests account for a mere 1.5 percent of the total wooded surface of the planet-but forests of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea have played, and continue to play, a key role in the development of local civilizations. Just as they do elsewhere, forests in the Mediterranean contribute to the production of products that are crucial to economic activity...

Unasylva - No. 168 - Arid Zone Forestry
30/01/1992

In recent years, the attention focused on challenges facing the tropical forests has intensified dramatically. However, nearly the totality of this attention has been directed toward the forests of the humid tropics. Even in technical documents, it is not uncommon to find statistics on the extent of tropical forests and the rates of loss or alteration followed by narrative that deals almost entirely with tropical rain forests.

Unasylva - No. 162 - Fire!
30/03/1990

Most anthropologists estimate that humans have been able to produce fire for some 20000 years, and have "kept" and controlled naturally occurring fire for more than 500000 years. Initially used for warmth, cooking and stimulating the growth of various forest products for food, fire soon became an indispensable adjunct to the clearing of forest land for agriculture and animal husbandry. As such, throughout history, in nearly every culture worldwide, fire has been used as a management tool.

Herders' decision-making in natural resources management in arid and semi-arid Africa
02/01/1990

This report fits into an overall objective of helping the FAO analyze the role that local knowledge and management systems (LKMS) of natural resources can play in FAO's development projects...

Unasylva - No. 150 - Forestry and the crisis in Africa
30/04/1985

This issue of Unasylva focuses on Africa. A large part of the continent has been overrun by drought in successive years, and millions of people are exposed to hunger and malnutrition. In many African countries, cultivation is because of hunger - rapidly expanding into forest land and areas of low rainfall. This process, coupled with necessarily unmanaged exploitation for fuelwood, fodder and other basic goods and services...

Unasylva - No. 135 - Forestry in arid zones
30/03/1982

This issue of Unasylva focuses on Africa. A large part of the continent has been overrun by drought in successive years, and millions of people are exposed to hunger and malnutrition. In many African countries, cultivation is because of hunger - rapidly expanding into forest land and areas of low rainfall. This process, coupled with necessarily unmanaged exploitation for fuelwood, has led to a progressively increasing rate of deforestation.