What do policy makers and other stakeholders want to know about scientific research? How can researchers provide information without sounding too technical? See how we approached this problem

1. COMMUNICATING DESIRE
SCIENCE TO
COMMUNICATING DESIRE
SCIENCE TO
POLICY MAKERS
POLICY MAKERS
AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS
AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS
Dr. Nichola Geeson
Dr. Jane Brandt
MEDES Observatory for economic problems associated
with desertification in Mediterranean areas,
Potenza, Italy

2. People who work
on the land, or
anyone who makes
decisions on how
the land can be
used in a
sustainable way,
need a sound basis
for their actions
Karapinar, Turkey
Cauquennes, Chile
F. Van Hulst
N. Geeson
Beans and maize in Cape Verde

3. Novy, Russia
Scientific research built up over the last
20 years can add to traditional
knowledge, - to provide a wealth of
practical experience to guide such
decisions
A. Zeiliguer
risk under olives
Novy, Russia
C. Kosmas
But what are the best ways of sharing
practical, sustainable and new ideas? of desertification
Calculation

4. M. Ouessar
A. Zeiliguer
A. Laouina
Stakeholders are more confident
to promote or try new ideas if
they see evidence of success
demonstrated in scientific
experiments

5. A newsletter published by the DESIRE project - a
project funded by the European Union’s 6th
Framework Program ‘Global Change and
Ecosystems’
Newsletter
2010 - 2
Info-brief 2
A publication from the DESIRE project - funded by
the European Union’s 6th Framework Program
‘Global Change and Ecosystems’
Sustainable Land
Management enhances
our living soils
DESIRE reports on a third
year of progress
In this issue:
News from the
plenary meeting
in Morocco
Study sites are busy combating desertification
with new strategies, - so how is it going?
Selecting strategies
cycles, local conditions, and the choice
of strategies available to suit the local
context. Standardised questionnaires
were used for appraisal and evaluation.
Then through a second workshop the
WOCAT technologies database and an
on-line decision support tool provided
an output of the most promising
technologies.
Monitoring
2010 - 2
Newsletter 3
Scientists and
stakeholders learn to
listen to one another
Knowledge
exchange is the
key to sustainable
action
.
C
,
t
a
r
P
,
D
R
I
©
By stakeholders we mean everyone who has an
interest: from farmers to national policy makers,
from schoolchildren to the UNCCD. The DESIRE
Project has included a series of stakeholder
workshops in all study sites. This has allowed full
discussion of ideas to combat land degradation
and desertification, many of which are now
being trialed on experimental plots. Local
stakeholders are involved in monitoring the trials
where possible, and all stakeholders will be
invited to consider the evaluation of success,
and contribute to future recommendations.
The most rewarding workshops are where there
is full support for seeking sustainable options
from a wide range of people. It is important to
try and include a range of ages and standards of
education, and as many women as men.
J. Gkioukis
Each page is from a DESIRE study site partner:
University of Aveiro, Portugal (Mação site);
Democritus University of Thrace, Greece (Nestos river
basin); University of Botswana (Boteti site); L'Institut
de recherche pour le développement (IRD), France
(Cointzio site, Mexico); Instituto de Investigaciones
Agropecurarias (INIA), Chile (Secano interior)
Edited by Nichola Geeson, July 2010
For more information and contact details see:
• The DESIRE Harmonised Information System:
www.desire-his.eu and DESIRE website: www.desireproject.eu
The DESIRE project (2007-2011) is funded by the European Commission, VI
Contact DESIRE coordinator: Coen.Ritsema@wur.nl
Framework Program, ‘Global Change and Ecosystems’ and brings together the
Contact DESIRE Communications: ngproject3@googlemail.com
expertise of 26 international research institutes and non-governmental
organisations (NGOs). This project is implemented by ALTERRA - research
institute for the green living environment in the Netherlands.
Copyright and Disclaimer:
Regular resting of rangeland
allows vegetation and soils to
recover from grazing
Resting rangeland in Béni Khédache,-El Athmane, Tunisia
The synergies between soil biodiversity and
sustainable land management mean that any
action that conserves water and improves soil
quality will also enhance soil habitats. The DESIRE
Project is developing strategies to remediate land
degradation in dryland areas. The following
examples demonstrate how these strategies
maintain or enhance soil biodiversity.
In Médenine, Tunisia areas of rangeland left
without grazing for 3-5 years improve the plant
cover and diversity for the next period of grazing.
This helps to avoid land degradation from overgrazing. An increase of infiltration, soil organic
matter and runoff control are secondary benefits.
Overgrazing can result in desertification in Tunisia
1
A publication from the DESIRE project - funded by
the European Union’s 6th Framework Program
‘Global Change and Ecosystems’
H ow s hould scientists ap proach al l the
stakeholders that can contribute to ensuring that
the research has practical uses? How can the
interest of the stakeholders be maintained?
The DESIRE Project (www.desire-his.eu) is
extending this approach to a number of regions
around the world, with a range of land uses
affected by desertification. An important benefit
of sustainable land use is the maintenance or
improvement of biodiversity. New initiatives such
as the EU’s Biodiversity Information System for
Europe will help improve the integration of
Land degradation in dryland areas dramatically
affects the biological diversity of landbased
ecosystems. This is because of the effects on plant
organic matter, plant roots, and organisms in the
soil: like termites, moles and earthworms, fungi
and bacteria. This living system below the ground
determines the biological diversity of land above
the ground, and ultimately land productivity and
other benefits that land provides.
The opinions expressed in this newsletter and on the website are those of the
DESIRE project consortium and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
European Commission.
www.desire-project.eu/disclaimer
Overgrazing can result in desertification in Tunisia
1
dg ©
el A
l eR
uB I
O,
m
e
c
a
With the strategies chosen, the emphasis
is now on establishing trials and field
experiments, and monitoring to see how
successful the measures will be. Every
study site has completed a detailed Site
Implementation Plan. At the recent plenary meeting in Morocco, project partPromising ideas
ners prepared posters to illustrate their
Each study site arrived at a list of two strategy testing in each study site, and
or more measures to try out. Although these can be viewed in the Harmonised
the technologies themselves may not be Information System on the DESIRE
new, the innovation is in matching the website at http://tinyurl.com/cx47u
technology to the local context. On
cropland
the
strategies
included Many of the study sites are monitoring
minimum tillage, terraces, drip irriga- physical variables such as meteorotion, mulching, vegetation strips, water logical data, soil moisture, soil water
harvesting and gully treatment. All quality, erosion by water or wind. These
these approaches concentrate on making measurements will help to provide
the most of a scarce water resource and evidence of the effects of different
protecting the soil surface from erosion treatments and practices. At the end of
by water and wind. On rangeland this the first growing season, the success of
might be achieved by less intensive the harvests under different treatments
grazing schemes and planting of suitable give a preview of the likely success of
shrubs. Details of the WOCAT system the complete strategy. For example, in
can be seen on the Harmonised Spain, water harvesting for cereals and
Information System on the DESIRE use of a green manure in almond
website:
orchards are working well.
http://tinyurl.com/yzpsw2b
A summary of the strategies being
Stakeholders cannot all visit the
evidence for themselves, - but
the evidence can be presented
to them on a website, or in
attractive factsheets, booklets,
policy briefs, posters, video
clips, etc., - all in non-scientific
language, and preferably in their
native language
Nestos, Greece
trialled in DESIRE is given on page 3.
achieve this provision sustainably, it is important
to promote a balance between activities such as
agricultural production, and respect for nature
and the environment. The EU’s legal framework
for Rural development 2007-2013 emphasises the
need for better integration of agricultural and
environmental policies.
coherent land use policies and synergies around
the world.
dg ©
el A
l eR
uB I
O,
m
e
c
a
The main objective of the
DESIRE Project is to work with
land users and other stakeholders, finding new ways to
tackle desertification and promote sustainable land management practices. Using a series
of questions and discussions at
workshops, scientist and stakeholders have been working together to suggest optimum solutions for local areas. Now, they
are trying the strategies out, to
see if good ideas in theory are
also good ideas in practice.
Last year scientists and stakeholders
completed the process of
selecting
sustainable land management strategies
in the 16 DESIRE study sites. They all
used the same procedure developed by
WOCAT (World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies).
This meant that the strategies they chose
would have a sound scientific and
practical basis. At the first workshop
scientists and stakeholders learned
together about water and biomass
We rely on land based ecosystems to
provide important benefits for human
livelihoods such as: our food, fodder
for animals, construction materials,
climate regulation and clean water. To
The DESIRE
Project shows
how this can be
achieved

6. Find out all about
-h
ire
s
DESIRE
.de
w
w
:/ /w
p
htt
in the Harmonised Information
System
/
.eu
is

7. The main menus and sub-menus
of the Harmonised Information
System provide access to all
DESIRE results, products and
recommendations as they
become available

8. Themes can be
accessed through
the Study Site menu
as well as the main
menu

9. Find a useful overview of
the DESIRE field
experiments to test
strategies to combat
desertification

10. This useful summary tool
shows the technologies
implemented at each site,
or where any particular
strategy is being tested

11. The Information System is now multi-lingual
... in Spanish
... in Russian ……

12. Newsletters and other
products can be
downloaded

13. An 8 page booklet on
Salinization, was the
first in a series of Infobriefs.
Written in nonscientific language it
will inform a wide
range of audiences
about the problems of
salinization and how
DESIRE research can
help

14. The Information
System provides
access to
PowerPoint
presentations ……

15. and documents that can be read
on-line or downloaded
and video clips to
summarise key
points…

16. Training and practical
instructions to
disseminate
recommendations further
are accessible in various
formats

17. Visit the
DESIRE
Harmonised Information System at
http://www.desire-his.eu/