14-Dec-2006
United Nations University
Joint International Conference Algiers, Dec. 17-19
About 200 experts from 25 countries are convening in Algiers Dec. 17-19 to advise shifts in world policies needed to cope with the causes and growing consequences of desertification – a creeping environmental crisis that threatens an estimated 2 billion people living in arid places, and a growing concern worldwide due to its global health, economic and migration impacts.
Such policies, if successful, could directly reduce the impact of climate change while ensuring adequate food, water and livelihoods for dryland dwellers. And reducing poverty in drylands can have a strong impact on the efforts to curb the flow of people – popularly termed “environmental refugees” – inside countries as well as across national borders.
Full text: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-12/unu-eaw120806.php
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