Afforestation programs in dryland regions
Forest management and afforestation in arid Lands
This theme will address the various aspects and challenges of sustainable forest management and the planting of new forests, afforestation, under global warming conditions The theme will also recognize the importance of sustainable forest management and afforestation as tools for combating desertification and enabling restoration.
The session will provide a platform for sharing long term experience, efforts and research results, in order to facilitate increases understanding and awareness of main issues related to forests, their ecological services and their role in mitigating both climate impacts and degradation in arid lands.
Theme Organizers:
Mr. Itshack Moshe
Deputy Director for Forestry, KKL Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL) Southern
Show Biography
Mr. Itshack Moshe is the Department head for Afforestation and Soil Conservation, Southern Region, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael. The Department is responsible for rehabilitating degraded sites in the Negev with methods such as: planting and managing forests for stream corridor management, practicing soil conservation and urban forestry, and creating green belts and parks around communities in the Negev. These rehabilitated areas serve to improve the quality of life for people living in the Negev, increase soil conservation, and create better grazing and recreation conditions. Collaboration with various research institutes in Israel and abroad serves as an important tool for sustainable afforestation and rehabilitation.
Invited Guest:
Prof. Abdoulaye DIA
Chief Executive Officer of the Panafrican Agency of the Great Green Wall, Sénégal
Title Of Abstract:
Climate Change and Fighting Strategies Africa's Initiative: The Great Green Wall Project
Show Biography
Prof. Abdoulaye DIA is a professor and researcher of Earth Sciences in the Earth Sciences Institute of the Universit? Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar S?n?gal and member of the National Academy of Sciences and Techniques of Senegal. Prof. DIA has been Director of the Earth Sciences Institute from 1993 to 2009 and was the National Director of Mines and Geology of Senegal from 1995-2000. He has over thirty years of relevant experience in Geo-Engineering and environmental training and research at both national and international levels. Since 2004, Prof. DIA has been the coordinator of the Committee of the Experts in charge of studies of the operational modalities of implementation of the High Authority for the Development of the Sahara Desert and the Great Green Wall, two Saharo-Sahelian states' main initiatives against desertification and climate change. He has also been chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Colloquium held in Dakar in February 2009 on the subject of botanical species and systems of development and monitoring of the Great Green Wall. He has attended various national and international conferences on desertification, climate change and Great Green Wall as Keynote speaker. Prof. DIA has authored and co-authored over fifty peer reviewed scientific journals, publications, and communications on geosciences and geopolitics of natural resources and the environment. He is also the co-publisher of two books about environmental and natural risks. In addition, he has supervised about twenty B.Sc., M.Sc., PhD and D.Sc. degrees of geosciences and georesources management at Senegalese and other African universities and is currently a member of several scientific reviewing committees of international scientific journals. Prof Abdoulaye DIA is presently the Executive Secretary of the Panafrican Agency of the Great Green Wall; a new institution appointed by the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the member states of the Great Green Wall, for the coordination and management of the implementation of that project.
Dr. Hong Ma
Institute of Forest Resource Information Technique
Title Of Abstract:
The study on the significant Program for Conversion of Cropland to Forest in China
Show Biography
Mahong is the Senior Engineer for the Lab. of Image Processing and Information Systems at the Institute of Forest Resource Information Technique, Chinese Academy of Forestry. She served for the Thematic Programme, Asian Desertification Monitoring & Assessment for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Her study area is about the application study of computer software in forestry; remote sensing image processing; Mathematics; Monitoring and Evaluation of Desertification.
From 2000 - 2006, she was responsible for the international project 'Desertification Area Monitoring in the China Inner Mongolia Region' and collaborated with Japanese researchers from Tokyo University. In 2005-2008 she attended the project 'Key Forestry Ecological Construction Monitoring and Evaluation'. She attended the study on the significant program for conversion of cropland to forest in China that is content of the six key national forest programs. She attended 'Monitoring and Evaluation of the Natural Remote Sensing Image Processing Method' and completed the remote monitoring and evaluation of the natural image processing method research and study. She attended "The Wetland Resources Sustainable Utilization of Monitoring and Evaluation Technology Research Project," completed application composed multi-temporal MODIS images of remote sensing classification of work.
