The International Arid Lands Consortium

The world's arid regions, which comprise 40% of the world’s land, face difficult challenges. The World Bank estimates that over the next twenty years, the earth’s population will increase to about 7.5 billion people. Developing nations, most of which are in arid and semi­arid climates, will be most affected by this increase. These regions are already suffering from desertification and famine, heightening the need for research on ways to make arid areas more habitable and productive. It is also necessary to discover ways to reduce the impact of increased human activity and desertification.

Rising to this challenge is the International Arid Lands Consortium (IALC), an independent, nonprofit organization. The IALC was created by scientists who believe that as the world's population continues to increase, it is essential that much of the world's arid terrain be transformed into habitable and productive land.

The IALC's purpose is to conduct research and develop applications in arid and semi­arid land technologies, and to apply its research in the United States, Israel and other countries. The IALC was founded in 1989 as a 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in Arizona, by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), the USDA Forest Service, The University of Arizona, The University of Illinois, New Mexico State University, South Dakota State University, and Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Today, members include the University of Arizona, the Desert Research Institute in Nevada, the Higher Council of Science and Technology in Jordan, The University of Illinois, the Jewish National Fund, the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation in Egypt, New Mexico State University, South Dakota State University, and Texas A&M University-Kingsville and. The IALC works closely with the USDA Forest Service and the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, and with other private and public organizations.

Each member brings distinctive capabilities to bear on the study and use of arid and semi­arid lands, providing expertise in such areas as water conservation and harvesting, development of stress-tolerant plants, agroforestry, range management, fire control, remote sensing and drought mitigation.

Many of the IALC's efforts are based on the success of the Jewish National Fund in reclaiming formerly barren land in Israel. According to the director of the Consortium, Dr. Kenneth Foster of the University of Arizona, Israel is "by far the leading country" in the application of various technologies studied by the consortium, and the "hands-on experience that Israel has gained will be of great benefit to the U.S. and other countries around the world."

In an effort to spread its knowledge, JNF has hosted six IALC conferences in Israel, attended by delegates from nations throughout the world, including China, Egypt, India, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Spain, Brazil, France, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Australia. Participants examined JNF's achievements in water conservation, afforestation, soil conservation, irrigation with saline water and reclaiming arid land for agriculture.

The consortium was authorized by Congress in the research Title of the 1990 Farm Bill to address problems anticipated by the increase of an estimated two billion people in the world's population by the year 2000. Most of this increase was in developing nations located in arid and semi­arid lands.