Under the High Patronage of His Excellency
President of the Republic of Niger, Chef de l’État
24-25 October 2011
Organized by
Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)
Panafrican Agency of the Great Green Wall (PAGGW)
Centro de Gestão e Estudos Estratégicos (CGEE)
With the support of
The Government of the Republic of Niger
Centro de Gestão e Estudos Estratégicos
Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação
MINISTÈRE
DES
AFFAIRES ÉTRANGÈRES
ET EUROPÉENNES

In spite of political progress made in favour of sustainable development, effor ts devoted to combating global warming (to slow down its effects) and to developing adaptations (to lessen the consequences) are still insufficient. In the light of this, the Rio+20 Conference (UNCDS) and the
6 th  World Water Forum in 2012 together represent the best opportunity to catch and strengthen the international community’s interest in this question and, more particularly, concerning this conference, in the development of arid regions.
The Conference of Niamey is the result borne of cooperation between a continent, Africa, and two countries, Brazil and France. This tripartite venture was initiated during the international conference
Climate, Sustainability and Development in Semiarid Regions (ICID+18) at Fortaleza (Brazil) and then at the ICID+19 in Mendoza (Argentina). It is supported by three institutions which share the same concern for development in drylands:
PAGGW in Africa, the CGEE in Brazil and the IRD in
France. Science and Technology Cooperation agreements were also signed in 2011 between the
PAGGW and IRD on the one hand, and the CGEE and the IRD on the other.
The objective of the Niamey Conference is to propose and uphold recommendations to promote tangible, just and equitable sustainable development of arid and semi-arid regions of the African continent.
Contributors, scientists, institutional representatives and decision-makers will be asked to define ways and means for achieving that and to put forward recommendations that will provide input for a declaration entitled the “Declaration of Niamey”. This statement will reflect a collective determination for an appeal embracing social, economic, environmental, technical and political considerations to foster improvements in the well-being and livelihoods of the populations concerned.
The immediate aim of this declaration is to bring influence to bear on the agenda for Rio+20 by providing the United Nations Preparation Committee, by 1 st November 2011, with information to guide the course of creation of global, national and local scale instruments to support these regions’ efforts towards development. The long-term objective is to steer, by way of the institutions, Agencies and States, the ongoing and emerging policy-making processes aimed at devising proposals for the development of these regions. The three parties to the conference initiative will mark their commitment to this declaration by signing a resolution.
The international committee for the 6 th World Water
Forum, which will take place in Marseille in March
2012, has recognized the per tinence of this conference by including desertification as a theme to be covered in the ministerial round tables-of the 6 th
Forum. Our participation in this event in Marseille will mark another high point in our overall initiative.
The Niamey Conference is organized around four Round Tables each focusing on a theme connected with desertification: “Climate change, social policies and food security polic”, “Water and soil, resource management”, “Plants and soil microbial communities dynamics in contest of desertification” and “The regional dimension of drylands”.
A session Chair (Moderator), contributing speakers and a rapporteur will be selected within each round table. At the end of the session, a note compiling concise policy recommendations will be produced. It will take account of ongoing or planned national policies and programmes that include the objective of improving local people’s daily lives. This note will be passed on to the Declaration Drafting Committee which will elaborate a summary to provide input for the Declaration.
The Declaration of Niamey is intended to be a consensus document approved in plenary session on the final day of the Symposium.
All the documents resulting from this conference will be made available on a special site which can be reached from the AIRD web site (www.aird.fr).

Chair
Michel Laurent
President, IRD (OC Chairman)
Abdoulaye Dia
PAGGW Executive Secretary (co-chairman)
Antonio Carlos Galvão
Director, CGEE, Brazil (co-chairman)
Members
Abou Amani
Hydrologist, UNESCO Regional Bureau for Africa,
Kenya
Gilles Bezançon
IRD Representative in Niger
Michel Bouvet
Executive Director - Agency, IRD, France
Georges De Noni
Regional coordinator of IRD for West and Central
Africa, Senegal
Bernard Dreyfus
Executive Director - Science, IRD, France
Richard Escadafal
Chairman of French Scientific Committee on Desertification (CSFD), IRD, France
Betina Ferraz Barbosa
Technical Adviser, CGEE, Brazil
Local Organization Comittee: created by department order on 21 June 2011.
Jean-Loup Guyot
IRD Representative in Brazil
Jean-Marc Hougard
Director, Strategy and Partnership Department (M2GP),
IRD, France
Alioune Kane
Director, EDEQUE, UCAD, Senegal
José Roberto de Lima
Technical Adviser, CGEE, Brazil
Amadou Hama Maïga
Deputy Director, International Institute for Water and
Environmental Engineering (2iE), Burkina Faso
Abdou Maisharou
Niger Focal Point for PAGGW, Niger
Mamadou Mamane
SG of Ministry for Hydraulic and Environment (MHE),
Niger
Amadou Moctar Niang
Executive Secretary Adviser, PAGGW, Senegal
Neya Oblé
Director, Research and Planning, MRSI, Burkina Faso
Antonio Rocha Magalhães
Director, ICID+18, CGEE, Brazil
Abakar Mahamat Zougoulou
Expert Assistant SE PAGGV, Tchad
Antonio Rocha Magalhães
(DC Chairman)
Director, ICID+18, CGEE, Brazil
Elena Maria Abraham
Director, IADIZA, Argentina
Betina Ferraz Barboza
Technical Adviser, CGEE, Brazil
Jean-Loup Guyot
IRD Representative in Brazil
Mamoudou Hamadou
ED for environment, Water and Forests. MHE, Niger
Amadou Moctar Niang
SG Adviser of PAGGW, Senegal
Serge Svizzero
Deputy Director, Strategy and Partnership Department
(M2GP), IRD,
Abakar Mahamat Zougoulou
Expert Assistant SE PAGGW, Tchad

08.30 – 09.00
: Venue and registration of participants
09.00 – 09.30
: Opening Ceremony
• welcome speech by Madame the Governor of Niamey region
• welcome speech by Africa, Brazil and France representatives
• opening speech by His Excellency Monsieur Issoufou MAHAMADOU,
President of the Republic of Niger, Chef de l’État
09.30 – 10.30
: visit of the exposition “Sustainable development in drylands”
10.30 – 11.00
: opening lecture “UNCCD and Rio+20 process : towards sustainable development in drylands”
(M. N’Diaye)
11.00 – 11.30
: presentation of Fortaleza (A.R. Magalhães) and Mendoza (E.M. Abraham) declarations
11.30 – 12.00
: objectives of the conference by the international organization Comittee (M. Laurent, A. Dia, A.C. Galvão)
12.00 – 13.30
: lunch
13.30 – 15.00
: round table 1 “Climate change, social policies and food security policy”
(Moderator: A. C. Galvão - Discussants: I. Issaka & M. Ginawi)
15.00 – 16.30
: round table 2 “Water and soil, resource management”
(Moderator: A. Guéro - Discussants: P. Lavigne Delville & T. F. Dalvino)
16.30 – 17.00
: coffee break
17.00 – 18.30
: round table 3 “Plants and soil microbial communities dynamics in context of desertification”
(Moderator: G. I. Konate - Discussants: B. Dreyfus & E. Servat)
18.30 – 19.00
: report of round tables 1 and 2
20.00
: Gala dinner hosted by the Government of Niger
08.30 – 10.00
: round table 4 “The regional dimension of drylands”
(Moderator: T. Lebel - Discussants: E. Abraham & A. R. Magalhães)
10.00 - 10.30: coffee break
10.30 – 11.00
: report of round tables 3 et 4
12.00 – 13.30
: lunch
13.30 – 14.30
: adoption of the declaration
14.30 – 15.00
: adoption of the resolution by PAGGW, CGEE and IRD
Closing Ceremony
15.00 – 15.30
: closing session by the Minister for Hydraulic and Environment of Niger
16.00
: press conference
18.30
: cocktail hosted by French Embassy in Niger