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The conference "Combating Desertification with Plants" was held in
Beer Sheva, Israel, from November 2-5, 1999, and was attended by 70
participants from 30 countries and/or international organisations.
Desertification - the degradation of soils in drylands - is a
phenomenon occurring in scores of countries around the globe. The
number of people (in semiarid regions) affected by the steady
decline in the productivity of their lands is in the hundred
millions. The measures required to halt and reverse the process of
desertification fall into many categories - policy, institutional,
sociological-anthropological, and technical. Although technical
"solutions" are not currently in vogue, the conference organizers
felt that perhaps the pendulum had swung too far in the direction
of "participatory approaches." Hence IPALAC - The International
Program for Arid Land Crops - whose function is to serve as a
catalyst for optimizing the contribution of plant germplasm to
sustainable development in desertification-prone regions - felt the
time was opportune for providing a platform for projects where the
"plant-driven" approach to development finds expression. Some 45
papers were delivered at the conference, falling into the
categories of this volume: Overview, Potential Germplasm for Arid
Lands, Introduction, Domestication and Dissemination of Arid Land
Plants, Land Rehabilitation, and Mechanisms of Plant Transfer. The
conference was funded by UNESCO (Division of Ecological Sciences),
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, and MASHAV, Israel's
Center for International Development Cooperation.
Historically, scientists and laymen have regarded salinity as a
hazar dous, detrimental phenomenon. This negative view was a
principal reason for the lack of agricultural development of most
arid and semi arid zones of the world where the major sources of
water for biological production are saline. The late Hugo Boyko was
probably the first scientist in recent times to challenge this
commonly held, pessimistic view of salinity. His research in Israel
indicated that many plants can be irrigated with saline water, even
at seawater strength, if they are in sandy soil - a technique that
could open much barren land to agriculture. This new, even radical,
approach to salinity was clearly enunciated in the book he edited
and most appropriately entitled 'Salinity and Aridity: New
Approaches to Old Problems' (1966). A decade later, three members
of the United States National Science Foundation (NSF), Lewis
Mayfield, James Aller and Oskar Zaborsky, formulated the 'Biosaline
Concept'; namely, that poor soils, high solar insolation and saline
water, which prevail in arid lands, should be viewed as useful
resources rather than as disadvantages, and that these resources
can be used for non-traditional production of food, fuels and
chemicals. The First International Workshop on Biosaline Research
was con vened at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, in 1977 by A. San
Pietro.
The conference "Combating Desertification with Plants" was held in
Beer Sheva, Israel, from November 2-5, 1999, and was attended by 70
participants from 30 countries and/or international organisations.
Desertification - the degradation of soils in drylands - is a
phenomenon occurring in scores of countries around the globe. The
number of people (in semiarid regions) affected by the steady
decline in the productivity of their lands is in the hundred
millions. The measures required to halt and reverse the process of
desertification fall into many categories - policy, institutional,
sociological-anthropological, and technical. Although technical
"solutions" are not currently in vogue, the conference organizers
felt that perhaps the pendulum had swung too far in the direction
of "participatory approaches." Hence IPALAC - The International
Program for Arid Land Crops - whose function is to serve as a
catalyst for optimizing the contribution of plant germplasm to
sustainable development in desertification-prone regions - felt the
time was opportune for providing a platform for projects where the
"plant-driven" approach to development finds expression. Some 45
papers were delivered at the conference, falling into the
categories of this volume: Overview, Potential Germplasm for Arid
Lands, Introduction, Domestication and Dissemination of Arid Land
Plants, Land Rehabilitation, and Mechanisms of Plant Transfer. The
conference was funded by UNESCO (Division of Ecological Sciences),
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, and MASHAV, Israel's
Center for International Development Cooperation.
Historically, scientists and laymen have regarded salinity as a
hazar dous, detrimental phenomenon. This negative view was a
principal reason for the lack of agricultural development of most
arid and semi arid zones of the world where the major sources of
water for biological production are saline. The late Hugo Boyko was
probably the first scientist in recent times to challenge this
commonly held, pessimistic view of salinity. His research in Israel
indicated that many plants can be irrigated with saline water, even
at seawater strength, if they are in sandy soil - a technique that
could open much barren land to agriculture. This new, even radical,
approach to salinity was clearly enunciated in the book he edited
and most appropriately entitled 'Salinity and Aridity: New
Approaches to Old Problems' (1966). A decade later, three members
of the United States National Science Foundation (NSF), Lewis
Mayfield, James Aller and Oskar Zaborsky, formulated the 'Biosaline
Concept'; namely, that poor soils, high solar insolation and saline
water, which prevail in arid lands, should be viewed as useful
resources rather than as disadvantages, and that these resources
can be used for non-traditional production of food, fuels and
chemicals. The First International Workshop on Biosaline Research
was con vened at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, in 1977 by A. San
Pietro."
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