Alarming signals are emerging throughout the world about the state of our environment and the
increasing pressures exerted on it.For example, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) showed
that ecosystems are under increasing stress and some of them are socompromised that they cannot
provide adequate levels of services for human wellbeing.

Following MA definition, ecosystems provide supporting services (e.g. nutrient cycling), provisioning services (e.g food, water), regulating services (e.g. water purification) and cultural services. The disruption of these services through anthropogenic or natural degradation of ecosystems has the potential to create great stresses on society. This is particularly through for, but not limited to, dryland regions of which 10 to 20% are affected bydesertification, where population pressure is increasing and where renewable water supplies are limited.

Desertification and Migrations, II International Symposium, 25-27 October 2006, Almeria, Spain