INTRODUCTION 

Drylands cover about 41% of Earth’s land surface and are home to more than 38% of the total global population of 6.5 billion. Some form of severe land degradation is present on 10 to 20% of these lands, the consequences of which are estimated to affect directly some 250 million people in the developing world, an estimate likely to expand substantially in the face of climate change and population growth. Population increases in semi-arid and arid regions and changes in regional climate have often led to degradation of the land, and sometimes to the collapse of societies in these regions. The problem is as old as civilization. Nowadays  Mongolia and China, parts of the middle east and the US Southwest face such problems. Showing these examples will be one of the goals of this coming Conference on Land Degradation, which will be held in Kuwait during March 8-14, 2009.