These are the proceedings from the World Bank Round Table meetings on dry-land degradation, and poverty, which brought together political, technical, and socioeconomic experts working in combating land degradation, to provide advice to the Bank on ways of translating the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), into the development assistance agenda. The document contains the papers presented at the meeting, and, the strategy statement, is also a product of the meeting, reflecting opinions, and input from participants. Part I addresses the global dimensions of land degradation, examining political, and historic perspectives on the subject, and the reasons for Bank involvement. It examines the function of the Convention to Combat Desertification in the context of global partnerships for development. Part II reviews the experiences of technical challenges within socioeconomic dimensions, i.e., migration issues, and poverty incidence, to formulate strategies to combat desertification from the scientific, sectoral, and environmental aspects. Finally, the third part contains plenary discussions, and the strategy outline for the comprehensive sustainable development of dry-lands.