About this Digest on Desertification

1. Sources for this Digest
   
2. Current Status
   
3. Digest Publication History
   

1. Sources for this Digest

The material content of the texts on Level 3 is directly sourced from  "Ecosystems & Human Well-being: Desertification Synthesis", a report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) produced in 2005 by a large international panel of scientists.

This MA report synthesizes and integrates findings related to desertification from the four MA Working Groups: Conditions and Trends, Scenarios, Responses and Sub-global Assessments, in response to requests for information received through the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, (UNCCD).

Involving some 1,360 of the world's leading experts, the MA is a partnership among several international organizations, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Convention on Migratory Species, five UN agencies (WHO , FAO , UNESCO , UNEP , UNDP ), the World Bank, and IUCN .

The Levels 1 & 2 summaries of this report were written by the GreenFacts Editorial Team.

GreenFacts Copyright Policy

2. Current Status

Approved for publication by the GreenFacts Scientific Board.

3. Digest Publication History

The GreenFacts publication process is designed to ensure as high a degree of objectivity as possible.

First draft

The first draft of this Digest was produced by the GreenFacts Editorial Team on 28 July 2006.

Second draft

The second draft of this Digest has been produced on 15 August 2006 by the GreenFacts Editorial Team

Preliminary and Peer review

The final draft of this Digest was produced on 22 September 2006 by GreenFacts after pre-review by an expert from the industry (see our  pre review form) and peer review by 3 independent scientists selected by the GreenFacts Scientific Board (see our  pre review form).

These reviewers included for instance:

• Dr Zafar Adeel - Director of the United Nations University - International Network on Water, Environment & Health (UNU-INWEH).
• Uriel N. Safriel - Ecologist, Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
• Per Rydén - Consultant, Environment Department, The World Bank.

Final corrections were added under the supervision of the GreenFacts Scientific Board in September 2006.

Publication

Final publication was authorized by the President of the GreenFacts Scientific Board on 1 October 2006.

Press Release

21 Dec. 2006: International Year on Deserts and Desertification 2006

Updates or subsequent post-publication revisions

No update or revision at present.

GreenFacts Copyright Policy