During the last decades, droughts have become more frequent in the Mediterranean, West Asia and North African countries, and have had negative socio-economic impacts which are frequently linked to a high exploitation of available water resources. The Fourth Assessment Report of the International Panel on Climate Change states that extreme...

Wheat, grown on more than 200 million hectares of land worldwide, is a source of food and livelihoods for over one billion people in developing countries. This important commodity has been greatly affected by recent soaring food prices. Wheat prices have doubled in the last year, largely as a result...

In their individual and joint efforts to address the problems of poverty, IFAD and its partner agencies in the NENA region are confronted by a large number of constraints, including:• The natural resource base in both quantity and quality, in particular, the prevalence ofdesert and semi-arid areas and the frequency...

In semi-arid regions, where rainfall is scanty, many water management systems were developed to provide irrigation water for agricultural through the centuries ago. In many part of Iran, the water requirements of most crops are not fully met by precipitation. Whereas, rural communities mostly subsist on farming and animal husbandry....

The objectives of this Technical Paper are to highlight the contribution that inland and coastal small-scale fisheries can make to poverty alleviation and food security and to make practical suggestions on ways that this contribution can be maximized. This paper is organized into three main sections. The first section discusses...

This issue of Caravan provides examples of ICARDA's work with its partners to help ensure sustainability of livelihoods for the poor in marginal areas.

The Trans-Himalayan region encompasses a number of countries situated in the midland and highland areas of the Himalayas, Karakoram, and in a broad sense also in Hindu Kush and Pamir. The mountains are characterized by a very low level of human development, with full exploitation or overexploitation of the natural...

This issue of Caravan chronicles ICARDA’s efforts in developing a research strategy and a need-based research program for the CAC region. In doing so, ICARDA played a major role in bringing together all partners, most importantly donors. The article on page 8 traces the history of this effort and provides...