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About 41 percent of the world's land surface is dry. Land degradation in drylands-that is, desertification-affects about 10- 20 percent of drylands all over the world, and the total area is 6-12million km2 (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005).
The world's population is expected to be over 86 hundred million by 2030. At a time when world population is growing rapidly and a food crisis is feared, agricultural areas, in contrast, are decreasing.
Thus desertification is one of the most serious problems on Earth.
At the Convention to Combat Desertification in 1994, it was stated that "desertification is land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climate variations and human activities".
Although we have no desert lands in Japan and therefore have no problem with them, the Arid Land Research Center (ALRC) is strengthening both domestic and international collaboration on arid land studies, in line with the ratification of the UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) by the Japanese Government in 1998.
The ALRC was established in 1990 as a National Joint-use Research Facility of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MECSST). The mandate of the ALRC is to conduct research on desertification and to help people in arid areas to develop sustainable agricultural practices. The ALRC, as part of the graduate school of Tottori University, is entitled to teach and supervise MSc and PhD students. The center also accommodates research students, foreign researchers, and trainees.
The ALRC is thus wide open to researchers and scientists from all over the world that are dedicated to working for the benefit of mankind.
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1998-2008 Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University all
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