An International Management Training Workshop on Arid & Semiarid Ecological Systems (Nov - Dec 1995, Israel)

Initiative number: 95D - 09
Initiative duration: 1 year
Dates: May 1, 1995 to April 30, 1996

Demonstrators

Yitzhak Abt, (PD), Director, Centre for International Agricultural Development Cooperation (CINADCO), Ministry of Agriculture, State of Israel, Rechov Aranha 12, Hakirya, POB 7011, Tel Aviv 61070 ISRAEL, TEL: 972-3-211-490, FAX: 972-3-697-1677

David Nahmias, Director, Land Development Authority, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (JNF), 1, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael St, PO Box 283, Jerusalem 91002 ISRAEL

Donald A. Hegwood, Director, Welhausen Water Resources Center, Campus Box 163, Texas A&M University - Kingsville, Kingsville TX 78363, USA

Dale L. Reeves, Acting Head, Plant Science Dept, Ag Hall, Box 2207A, South Dakota State University, Brookings SD 57007, USA

Final Report Abstract

The workshop was held in Israel November 15 - December 5, 1995. Participants included 36 professional land managers, policy makers, research scientists and university teachers from 22 countries with arid and/or semiarid regions. Twelve of the participants hold the Doctoral degree, ten hold the Masters degree and 14 the Bachelors degree. Six of the participants were women; one each from Mexico, China, Eritrea, and Tanzania and two from Kenya.

The purpose of the initiative was to upgrade the application and training skills of practitioners and production managers of arid lands ecological systems toward sustainability. It placed special emphasis on the participation of men and women in the management and implementation of such programs and on sustainable economic and regional growth.

The workshop was suggested in a draft proposal to the IALC prepared by David Nahmias, director of KKL. It was presented at the winter board meeting at NMSU in 1994 and adopted contingent on funding availability. COPP charged to work with CINADCO to develop and finalize the initiative with Texas A&M Kingsville as the IALC representative. SDSU was later invited and joined TAMUK and CINADCO as the organizers and sponsors of the initiative. Planning meetings were held in Tucson on November 14-15, 1994 with the IALC representatives and Yitzhak Abt, Director of CINADCO. Subsequently, additional funding was obtained from MASHAV. A second planning meeting was held at CINADCO headquarters in Tel Aviv. A short follow-up coordinating meeting including Hegwood, Abt and Herman was held in Jerusalem during the International Water Resources Management Workshop in April, 1995.

The underlying theme of the workshop reflected the relationship between soil-water-plant-nutrients and as appropriate, animals in desert conditions for specialized agriculture, pisiculture and afforestation. Workshop topics focused on arid and semiarid lands management at various levels of development from subsistence to a market-oriented desert economy.

The workshop began with three days of preparatory activities, including introductory lectures, in the CINADCO training Center at Shefayim, 223 kilometers north of Tel Aviv. After a two-day trip to the north (in the Tiberius region) and Jerusalem, participants and staff traveled in the south for nine days through the Arava Valley to E'lat, the Negev Desert region, Be'er Sheva and east to the production area adjacent to Gaza. The schedule terminated at Shefayim for the writing of a proposal for a development project applicable to their home country and graduation on December 5.

Exercises included lectures and open discussion by participants, the latter often limited due to time constraints. Training sites included agricultural and industrial production enterprises on Kibbutzim and Moshavim, research and development centers, water harvesting projects and afforestation and Moshavim, research and development centers, water harvesting projects and afforestation and reforestation sites. Anonymous course evaluations including evaluations of each lecturer were conducted as each topic was covered.

Outcome

Workshop Manual

An International Management Training Workshop for Managers of Arid and Semiarid Ecological Systems. 1995. Project Report. Workshop held 15 November - 5 December, Shefayim, Israel.