Africa regional project 625000995 · 1980 · National Research Council. Commission on International Relations. Board on Science and Technology for International Development

The accelerating degradation of the Sahel's ecosystem urgently requires research on controlling desertification. This report reviews a workshop held to address this need at which the National Academy of Sciences assisted the Sahel Institute (INSAH) of the Inter-State Committee for Combating Drought in the Sahel (CILSS) to prepare its First Quinquennial Research Program (1981-85). The workshop assigned highest priority to three research themes from the CILSS's Plan to Combat Desertification: (1) evaluation of the impact of development activities and policies on the Sahelian ecosystem; (2) assessment of the Sahel's natural resources and their evolutionary tendencies; and (3) investigation of genetic improvement as a means to diversify, restore, and rationally manage vegetation. In each of these Program areas workshop participants called for both fundamental and applied research, improvement of research methods and techniques, evaluation of policies, collection of scientific and technical information, dissemination of research results, and integration of training into research efforts. Above all, the participants declared that the Program must be compatible with ongoing national an

Source: DEC abstract, PN-AAJ-889 (1980). The source's own text.