Participants at a conference of the 23-member Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) have agreed to establish commissions to develop training programmes and promote research on desertification, water and agriculture.

The meeting, which took place in Tripoli, Libya, from 1-2 June 2006, concluded that the CEN-SAD commissions would establish networks of specialists to share information between member states as well as plans to monitor and address degradation of arid lands. Delegates also agreed to move forward on a North Africa Green Belt Project, which will seek to plant trees in a five-kilometer wide belt from Mauritania to Djibouti in an effort to stop the spread of deserts.

Links to further information
CEN-SAD website
SciDev.Net news release, 6 June 2006