Desertification and climate are deepening the world food crisis.

• 12 Arab countries and 11 international organizations call for urgent measures to combat desertification during the eighth session of the Arab group, to implement international environmental conventions on desertification and biological diversity in
• Damascus.
• Participants dealt with ways and means to face up with desertification linked to the growing problems of drought, climate change and the global food crisis.
• They called on international donators to fulfil their financial obligations, to implement programs of combating desertification in the Arab world.
• Arab cooperation is also needed to share experience and techniques in dealing with environmental challenges.
• The meeting recommended training Arab specialists on means and methods of combating desertification, rehabilitating deserted lands and encouraging Arab countries to provide funding to implement anti-desertification programs and involve the local community in these actions.
• Desertification is about land degradation: the loss of the land’s biological productivity, caused by human-induced factors and climate change.
•  It affects one third of the earth’s surface and over one billion people. Moreover, it has potentially devastating consequences in terms of social and economic costs.
• Drought is a major cause for food crisis. Both drought and unsustainable water management have played a key role in the current problem.
• Major food exporters such as Australia and Ukraine are experiencing the effects of drought, which will fuel world food crisis.