ICARDA News

International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas

P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria
Phone: (963-21) 2213433, 2213477, 2225112, 2225012
Fax: (963-21) 2213490, 2225105;
E-mail: ICARDA@CGIAR.ORG
Website: www.icarda.org
30 August 2007
Media contact: Surendra Varma (s.varma@CGIAR.ORG), Ravi R. Prasad (r.prasad@cgiar.org)
 
Oasis Builds Momentum in Montpellier
Dr Richard Thomas co-signed a submission letter from the Oasis co-proponents to the Director of the CGIAR. Seen in this co-signing picture (from left to right) are: Dr Mariam Akhtar-Schuster, Co-chair of DesertNet; Dr Christian Hoste, Director, ECART; Dr Youba Sokona, Executive Secretary, Sahel-Sahara Observatory; Dr Richard Thomas, Senior Scientist, Land Degradation and Desertification, ICARDA; Dr William Dar, Director General, ICRISAT; Dr Etienne Hainzelin on behalf of the Director General of CIRAD; Dr Gerard Matherson; Dr Bernard Dreyfus on behalf of Dr Michel Laurent, Director General IRD; and Dr Luca Montanarella, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, European Commission. Standing behind (left to right) are Drs Barry Shapiro and Mark Winslow of ICRISAT and Dr Oliver Oliveros of GFAR.
The Oasis initiative to combat desertification and dryland degradation organized a global workshop from 20 to 22 August, hosted by CIRAD and IRD at the CIRAD campus in Montpellier, France, to strengthen global partnerships while developing a pre-proposal for CGIAR Challenge Program consideration. Sixty-one participants from 24 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America participated in the workshop.

ICARDA and ICRISAT jointly catalyze the Oasis initiative on behalf of the Alliance of CGIAR Centers. Six institutions from beyond the CGIAR have now joined the Alliance partners as co-proponents of Oasis, making it a truly global initiative: CIRAD; IRD; the European Commission for Agricultural Research in the Tropics (ECART); the European Commission's Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) of the Joint Research Centre (JRC); and the Sahel-Sahara Observatory (OSS). Ten CGIAR Centers are involved in Oasis: Bioversity, CIAT, CIMMYT, ICARDA, ICRISAT, IFPRI, ILRI, IWMI, WARDA, and the World Agroforestry Centre.

 The Oasis pre-proposal advocates a break from past approaches to dryland degradation and desertification, which too often fell short of expectations. The approach advocated by Oasis partners is to view land degradation and desertification as a sustainable development problem rather than simply a biophysical problem to be treated through centralized government decrees ordering land users to change their practices. Too often such past practices were not adoptable because they did not take land users' needs for secure and prosperous livelihoods into account. The Oasis motto is "building lives, saving lands," recognizing that neither secure livelihoods, nor environmental protection can be achieved without addressing both at the same time.

To address the under-development problem, Oasis partners advocated co-learning with land users from the beginning, to understand their motivations and constraints. This ensures that the right issues and bottlenecks in "development pathways" are tackled, leading to adoptable solutions. By interconnecting relevant institutions from the community to the national and international scales, the co-learning approach overcomes past stumbling blocks such as policies being out of step with the needs of land users or unintentionally encouraging the degradation of drylands, and the impoverishment of their inhabitants.

Oasis defined six facets of integrated knowledge generation that could contribute to breakthroughs on land degradation and desertification. In addition to co-learning and development pathways, the other four "knowledge streams" focus on understanding and assessing the causes of dryland degradation and desertification; rationalizing policy, market and institutional forces; making more efficient, productive and sustainable use of land, soil, water and biodiversity resources; and building more remunerative livelihood options that motivate land users to adopt sustainable practices.

Oasis answers the global call for greater scientific input embodied in the Articles of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Oasis will engage with the UNCCD mechanisms such as the Committee on Science and Technology and National Action Plans to strengthen the world's ability to meet the threat of desertification and land degradation more effectively than in the past.

The Oasis pre-proposal was submitted by the Alliance to the CGIAR in for consideration by the CGIAR's Science Council and Executive Council. If approved, a full proposal would be developed in 2008 leading to a formal launching of the new Challenge Program.
  

About ICARDA: Established in 1977, ICARDA (www.icarda.org) is one of the 15 international research centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). ICARDA serves the entire developing world for the improvement of barley, lentil, and faba bean; and dry-area developing countries for the on-farm management of water, improvement of nutrition and productivity of small ruminants (sheep and goats), and rehabilitation and management of rangelands. In the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region, ICARDA is responsible for the improvement of durum and bread wheats, chickpea, pasture and forage legumes and farming systems; and for the protection and enhancement of the natural resource base of water, land, and biodiversity.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (www.cgiar.org) is a strategic alliance of countries, international and regional organizations, and private foundations supporting15 international research centers that mobilizes cutting-edge science to promote sustainable development by reducing hunger and poverty, improving human nutrition and health, and protecting the environment.
Back