Conservation, Management and Sustainable Use of Dryland Biodiversity within Priority Agro-Ecosystems of the Near East

Many of the crop species of temperate agriculture originated and were first domesticated in the Near East (including Turkey. Iran. Iraq. Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine. Syria and Egypt). where their wild relatives and numerous landraces are still found today. It is an area of megadiversity of important food crops. pasture and rangeland species. The countries mentioned support a population of about 222 million which-with an average annual growth rate around 3%--is expected to more than double by 2025. Agricultural production. including pastoralism, is the principal economic activity of the majority of the population in this region. To meet national aims of food self-security, agricultural land use has been intensified and expanded, leading to severe erosion of biodiversity, and degradation of vegetation, land, and water. Large exclusionary reserves to preserve biodiversity. which remove land from productive use and do not take account of local needs. are unlikely to be popularly accepted; nor is exclusion necessarily the best means of conservation of many species and habitats active management may be required to conserve their diversity. Consequently. Existing traditional and multiple land uses. and the livelihoods that they support must be taken into consideration: ways to build niches for the maintenance of biodiversity within these agricultural systems must be devised. In-situ conservation of biodiversity over large areas of degraded arable- and rangelands in dry areas depends upon enlisting the active support of the land users. This can only be accomplished by a wide range of participatory methods. and by ensuring that land-users appreciate the benefits that can accrue through participatory co-management of natural resources and biodiversity. In June 1992. when world leaders at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro agreed on UNCED's Agenda 21. they requested the international research community to consider specific contributions to its implementation. The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (IC ARDA). with its sister institute. the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI). responded to this request by initiating a proposal in collaboration with the Arab Center for Studies of the Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD) to establish a consortium in partnership with concerned national research institutes (NRls) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). For this purpose, a series of workshops was organized during 1994 and 1995 with support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Izmir meeting proceedings reported in this volume represent a follow-on to earlier meetings held in Amman. Jordan. to develop a regional project for biodiversity conservation in the Near East.