Scientists unite to put drylands on Rio+20 agenda

Scientists and policymakers from Africa, Argentina, Brazil, and France have called for better scientific cooperation and capacity building in the drylands with an eye on putting the drylands agenda on the UN Rio+20 summit agenda next year. Participants at the Fight Against Desertification in Africa conference in Niger (24–25 October) invited world leaders who will take part in the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, in June 2012, to make creative decisions to promote sustainable development in dryland areas — home to up to two billion people. Research activities should help build local expertise, the declaration says, and not be restricted to producing scientific publications but also have outputs that could be used directly by policymakers and other stakeholders.