Drylands cover 41.3% of the world’s land surface and are home to extraordinary biodiversity. They provide ecosystem services that support the livelihoods of 2 billion people in drylands and countless more outside their borders. Yet the values of drylands are often overlooked and as a result dryland biodiversity is lost through neglect. Local livelihood systems and dryland cultures play a prominent role in conserving dryland biodiversity and are becoming central to conservation and protected area strategies. Much greater progress can be made towards our shared global conservation goals if we raise awareness of the opportunities and potential for conserving dryland biodiversity.
Friday, 7 September - The journey starts with Knowledge Café Discussions focussing on land management (#422, 508, 646). Of interest are Posters #367 and #547 about rural community role and water management.
Saturday, 8 September – Join the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in a Knowledge Café Discussion (#355) on Mobilising Action to Conserve Drylands Biodiversity through Sustainable Land Management and don’t hesitate to visit the WCPA Pavilion to celebrate the successes in protecting temperate grasslands.
Sunday, 9 September - The Protected Planet Pavilion will be the place to be (13:00 to 14:30) for the launch of the book “Conserving Dryland Biodiversity”
Monday, 10 September - Be sure to sign up for the Conservation Campus Course (#784) if you are considering Green Actions and don’t miss the Poster #280 exposing the Guadix Basin history.
Tuesday, 11 September – Among proposed Posters, don’t forget to have a look at the #616, highlighting Striped Hyaena Conservation. The drylands journey concludes with presentation of key lessons and proposals from the journey events in Commission/Programme wrap-up session (workshop #813) where priorities, strategies and actions will be identified for the coming inter-sessional period.
