This is a record of the proceedings of the conference »Desertification: a security threat? - Analysis of risks and challenges« held in the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin on June 26, 2007.

The speeches and discussions have been edited for reasons of space. The conference was realised by the Federal Foreign Office in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development,
the GTZ and the UNCCD Secretariat.

The conference was held as Germany’s contribution to the World Day to Combat Desertification 2007.
The World Day to Combat Desertification is celebrated every year on June 17 all over the world in order to highlight the urgent need to curb the process of desertification and to strengthen the visibility of this serious drylands issue on the international environmental agenda.

This report seeks to inform and stimulate debate, but is not a statement of policy, and does not represent the official viewpoint of any of the convening organisations, nor of the organisations represented by speakers and conference participants.