1. Xi’an, October 2010
WB 6: The Harmonised
Information System and
Dissemination Products
Recent activities, Overview, and
Plans
Nichola Geeson, Jane Brandt, Giovanni Quaranta, Rosanna Salvia

2. Xi’an, October 2010
WB 6: Recent activities
•Additions, re-organisation and refinements
to the HIS, including use of drop-down
menus
•Compilation of products such as
newsletters, the booklet on salinization (in
the Russian and Nestos (Greece) sites), the
leaflet on “Sustainable land management
enhances our living soils” for
Desertification Day, and the article on
DESIRE for DesertNet (DNI)
Posters and presentations for the recent
DESURVEY conference in Rome
A publication from the DESIRE project - funded by
the European Union’s 6th Framework Program
‘Global Change and Ecosystems’ Newsletter 3
2010 - 2
Scientists and
stakeholders learn to
listen to one another
How should scientists approach all the
stakeholders that can contribute to ensuring that
the research has practical uses? How can the
interest of the stakeholders be maintained?
By stakeholders we mean everyone who has an
interest: from farmers to national policy makers,
from schoolchildren to the UNCCD. The DESIRE
Project has included a series of stakeholder
workshops in all study sites. This has allowed full
discussion of ideas to combat land degradation
and desertification, many of which are now
being trialed on experimental plots. Local
stakeholders are involved in monitoring the trials
where possible, and all stakeholders will be
invited to consider the evaluation of success,
and contribute to future recommendations.
The most rewarding workshops are where there
is full support for seeking sustainable options
from a wide range of people. It is important to
try and include a range of ages and standards of
education, and as many women as men.
Knowledge
exchange is the
key to sustainable
action
1
Overgrazing can result in desertificationin Tunisia
The DESIRE project (2007-2011) is funded by the European Commission, VI
Framework Program, ‘Global Change and Ecosystems’ and brings together the
expertise of 26 international research institutes and non-governmental
organisations (NGOs). This project is implemented by ALTERRA - research
institute for the green living environment in the Netherlands.
Copyright and Disclaimer:
www.desire-project.eu/disclaimer
Contact DESIRE coordinator: Coen.Ritsema@wur.nl
Contact DESIRE Communications: ngproject3@googlemail.com
The opinions expressed in this newsletter and on the website are those of the
DESIRE project consortium and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
European Commission.
Each page is from a DESIRE study site partner:
University of Aveiro, Portugal (Mação site);
Democritus University of Thrace, Greece (Nestos river
basin); University of Botswana (Boteti site); L'Institut
de recherchepour le développement (IRD), France
(Cointzio site, Mexico); Instituto de Investigaciones
Agropecurarias(INIA), Chile (Secano interior)
Edited by Nichola Geeson, July 2010
For more information and contact details see:
• The DESIREHarmonisedInformationSystem:
www.desire-his.eu and DESIRE website: www.desire-
project.eu
©IRD,Prat,C.

3. Xi’an, October 2010
We need your help to present your work to best
advantage. We want your results to be used by non-
scientists as well as scientists, to find sustainable
solutions to real problems

4. Xi’an, October 2010
 Scientific papers you have written
about DESIRE work
 Material you have developed,
particularly in your own languages
for use with stakeholders
 Links to local and other useful
websites
As well as the results directly from work packages,
please continue to send us other material for the HIS:
I. Martinez
I.Martinez
I.Martinez
Un sistema de siembra sin preparación tradicional del suelo que evita
la erosión
F.VanHulst
INIA – Quilamapu y el proyecto DESIRE han trabajado en el secano
interior durante más de 5 años en el perfeccionamiento de la
tecnología de la cero labranza. Se denomina cero labranza al
establecimiento de un cultivo sin laboreo tradicional del suelo, para
realizar esta práctica es necesario ejecutar una serie sucesiva de
labores, que permitan en primera instancia adecuar el suelo para
luego implementar la cero labranza propiamente tal.
La adecuación de suelo consiste en eliminar y/o identificar los
grandes obstáculos como piedras, y troncos, luego es recomendable
realizar un subsolado al suelo en el mes de agosto – septiembre con
el propósito de mejorar la infiltración de agua y el desarrollo de
raíces. Éste se puede ejecutar con un arado subsolador traccionado
por tractor. En suelos menos arcillosos y con la humedad apropiada
se puede descompactar el suelo con un arado subsolador de tracción
animal. El subsolado se debe realizar a comienzo de primavera del
año anterior a la siembra. Si las condiciones climáticas lo permiten
también se podría ejecutar a fines de abril del año que se va a
sembrar. Previo a la siembra se realiza un rastraje que deja el suelo
en condiciones de sembrar en cero labranza por al menos 4 años
consecutivos, sin volver a realizar la labor de subsolado.
Para controlar las malezas previo a la siembra, lo que también se
llama barbecho químico, se deben esperar las primeras lluvias para
que estimulen la emergencia de las malezas y luego aplicar un
herbicida total para su control.
Para siembras de grano fino y semillas de praderas se puede utilizar
una sembradora de tracción animal, que tiene tres depósitos, uno
permite sembrar trigo, avena, cebada, lentejas arvejas y lupino; otro
para praderas como hualputras y tréboles, y otro para fertilizantes,
también la siembra se puede efectuar con máquinas sembradoras de
discos accionadas por tractor.
Para facilitar el establecimiento y la emergencia del cultivo que
continua al del trigo al año siguiente, se requiere dejar del orden de
2.500 kilos de rastrojo de trigo sobre el suelo, cantidades superiores
generan ciertos ácidos que inhiben la emergencia del cultivo
sembrado sobre el rastrojo. Cuando la caña de trigo queda parada
este daño no es tan severo. Una solución para mitigar éste problema
es que se manejen animales sobre los rastrojos después de la cosecha
y consuman parte de este. Sin embargo aquellos productores que no
tienen animales o poseen superficies más extensas deben retirar
parte del rastrojo.
Ubicación: Yumbel, San José de Ninhue,
y San Carlos en Región del Bio-Bío y
Cauquenes y San Javier en Región del
Maule, Chile.
Área aplicación Tecnología: Secano
interior mediterráneo de Chile central.
Medidas de Conservación de suelo y
agua: Agronómicas y de manejo de
cultivos.
Uso del suelo: cultivos en suelos con
menos de un 20% de pendiente y
praderas y/o sistemas agroforestales en
pendientes superiores.
Clima: Subhumedo
Comentario: La cero labranza es un
sistema prometedor, ya existe un cierto
nivel de adopción en el país. No
obstante éste se encuentra en fase de
desarrollo técnico en Chile, resta por
determinar un sistema técnico-
económico apropiado del manejo de
rastrojos,. En países de América Latina,
como Brasil, Argentina, Paraguay y
Bolivia se siembran con éste sistema
sobre 33,5 millones de hectáreas. En
Chile, sin manejo adecuado de rastrojo
se siembran alrededor de 130.000 ha.
Izquierda: Siembras trigo con maquina
cero labranza de 10 hileras, marca Juber,
accionada por tractor 90 HP con tracción
asistida, Actividades proyecto DESIRE
Yumbel, Secano interior mediterráneo de
Chile central.
Derecha: Cultivo de lentejas establecido
con cero labranza en San José de Ninhue,
obsérvese restos de cereal que cubren el
suelo entre hileras.
TECNOLOGÍA DE LA CERO LABRANZA EN EL
SECANO INTERIOR DE CHILE

5. Xi’an, October 2010
Your Dissemination Plan
In January 2011 we will have one year of DESIRE
left to run
So that is when I would like to ask each DESIRE
partner group (not just study sites) to write a brief
plan for how their results can be presented to a
wide range of audiences

6. Xi’an, October 2010
Your Dissemination Plan
Perhaps include:
 Maps, with written explanations
 Factsheets or leaflets, about challenges as well as
successes
 Interesting work from PhD students
 All manner of other contributions to the HIS: photos,
video clips, links to other websites, etc.
See the updated Manual of Communication and
Dissemination for ideas

7. Xi’an, October 2010
Your Dissemination Plan
The HIS is growing, to become the complete story of DESIRE
in each study site:
 Details of desertification issues in each study site
 How strategies to combat desertification were chosen,
trialled and evaluated
 Conclusions for each study site, locally and in a wider
regional context
 Recommendations for land users and policy makers

8. Find out all about
DESIRE
in the Harmonised Information
System

9. The main menus and sub-menus
of the Harmonised Information
System provide access to all
DESIRE results, products and
recommendations as they
become available

10. Themes can be
accessed through
the Study Site menu
as well as the main
menu

11. Find summaries of the
aims and progress in each
WB

12. Find a useful overview of
the DESIRE field
experiments to test
strategies to combat
desertification

13. This useful summary tool
shows the technologies
implemented at each site,
or where any particular
strategy is being tested

14. ... in Spanish
... in Russian ……
The Information System is now multi-lingual

15. Newsletters and other
products can be
downloaded

16. A publication from the DESIRE project - funded by
the European Union’s 6th Framework Program
‘Global Change and Ecosystems’ Info-brief 2
2010 - 2
Sustainable Land
Management enhances
our living soils
We rely on land based ecosystems to
provide important benefits for human
livelihoods such as: our food, fodder
for animals, construction materials,
climate regulation and clean water. To
achieve this provision sustainably, it is important
to promote a balance between activities such as
agricultural production, and respect for nature
and the environment. The EU’s legal framework
for Rural development 2007-2013 emphasises the
need for better integration of agricultural and
environmental policies.
The DESIRE Project (www.desire-his.eu) is
extending this approach to a number of regions
around the world, with a range of land uses
affected by desertification. An important benefit
of sustainable land use is the maintenance or
improvement of biodiversity. New initiatives such
as the EU’s Biodiversity Information System for
Europe will help improve the integration of
coherent land use policies and synergies around
the world.
Land degradation in dryland areas dramatically
affects the biological diversity of landbased
ecosystems. This is because of the effects on plant
organic matter, plant roots, and organisms in the
soil: like termites, moles and earthworms, fungi
and bacteria. This living system below the ground
determines the biological diversity of land above
the ground, and ultimately land productivity and
other benefits that land provides.
The synergies between soil biodiversity and
sustainable land management mean that any
action that conserves water and improves soil
quality will also enhance soil habitats. The DESIRE
Project is developing strategies to remediate land
degradation in dryland areas. The following
examples demonstrate how these strategies
maintain or enhance soil biodiversity.
The DESIRE
Project shows
how this can be
achieved
1
Regular resting of rangeland
allows vegetation and soils to
recover from grazing
In Médenine, Tunisia areas of rangeland left
without grazing for 3-5 years improve the plant
cover and diversity for the next period of grazing.
This helps to avoid land degradation from over-
grazing. An increase of infiltration, soil organic
matter and runoff control are secondary benefits.
Resting rangeland in Béni Khédache,-El Athmane, Tunisia
OuledBelgacem,IRA©
OuledBelgacem,IRA©
Overgrazing can result in desertificationin Tunisia
Booklets and leaflets in
non-scientific
language will inform a
wide range of
audiences about
desertification
problems and how
DESIRE research can
help

17. The Information
System provides
access to
PowerPoint
presentations ……

18. and video clips to
summarise key
points…and documents that can be read
on-line or downloaded

19. Training and practical
instructions to
disseminate
recommendations further
are accessible in various
formats

20. Xi’an, October 2010
WB 6: The Plan
Dissemination in WB6 depends on
YOU!
Can you supply material, (for direct
use, or to be re-organised for different
uses), for a wide range of
stakeholders ?
Thank you very much !

21. Xi’an, October 2010
WB 6: The Plan
Dissemination in WB6 depends on
YOU!
Can you supply material, (for direct
use, or to be re-organised for different
uses), for a wide range of
stakeholders ?
Thank you very much !