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YEMEN:

Mahmoud Shidiwah, Director of the Desertification Control Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, outlined the types and forms of desertification and strategies used at various levels. He then covered the objectives and national strategies used to combat desertification. He stated that with desertification comes poverty, hunger, migration, illiteracy, and the inability of people to meet their basic needs. He said that combatting desertification was seventh on list of their country's priorities in the development programme.

Asma Mubarak, Counselor of Foreign Affairs from Yemen, outlined the government's 20-year policy to combat desertification, which started in 1991. She said that combating desertification means increasing plant and animal produce and ensuring long-term rural development. She stressed the need to take into account all social, economic and technical issues in programme planning.