Twelve years after the first "International Symposium" in Almería (1994) the second symposium was co-organized by the Spanish Environment, Foreign, Science and Technology Ministries, the UN Secretariat to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and local institutions. The Symposium took place under the patronage of Queen Sofia of Spain. It brought together 250 experts, many from African countries, where the emigration to Spain has intensified, resulting in an increase from 1 million (in 1995) to 4.8 million in 2005 (or 11.2%). The symposium adopted policy suggestions that called for a) international and multidisciplinary scientific analyses on the link between desertification and migration; b) new international initiatives to combat desertification (e.g. to create an International Panel to Combat Desertification (IPCD), to assess the global knowledge and develop proposals for bottom-up policies and measures); and c) the establishment of a research centre on the link between desertification and migration in Almeria, as well as a joint Spanish-Mexican-German initiative within the OECD to study these linkages and promote solar energy in drylands in the most affected countries. In this area, Spain and Germany have already cooperated through the "Plataforma Solar de Almeria" (PSA) since 1981. (by Hans Günter Brauch, Free University Berlin, UNU-EHS fellow and AFES-PRESS)

For the "International Year of Deserts and Desertification" (IYDD), please see http://www.iydd.org

For more information on the "Second International Symposium on Desertification and Migrations", please see http://www.sidym2006.com/eng/eng_presentacion.asp

For further conferences related to the "International Year of Deserts and Desertification" (IYDD), please see  http://www.afes-press.de/html/topical.html  

 

Published in:ECC-Newsletter, December 2006