Nearly one-third of the land area of this planet is classified as arid or semiarid. These lands are areas where rainfall limits productivity and/or is so unpredictable that cropping is not feasible. Of the approximately 37,000,000 km² classified as arid and semiarid lands, 25,560,000 km² are used as rangelands: lands used by pastoralists for domestic livestock production. Despite these limitations, humans have inhabited these lands for millennia, using the limited and varied productivity to support pastoralism. In the 20^th century, nomadic pastoralism has been replaced by pastoral industries in many areas of the world. Commercial livestock production has had very different impacts on arid lands than nomadic pastoralism. Only the hyper-arid regions (those areas receiving less than 80 mm of rainfall per year (UNESCO, 1977) are excluded from the desert rangelands. Nearly coincident with the development of commercial ranching or pastoral industry was the realization that these lands were fragile and that when degraded, recovery was slow or did not occur. Deserts are often perceived as extreme, barren landscapes that are seemingly inhospitable and capable of sustaining only the most rudimentary plant and animal life. Hence, deserts have long captivated the imagination of both layperson and scientist alike. the current symposium and workshop is an attempt to make an exchange of knowledge and experiences among German Alumni and interested scientists, researchers, practitioners and policy-makers possible, and so far try to develop effective and sustainable strategic plans to face these problems.The meeting in 2011 is intended to focus on “Dry-land Ecology” which covers the following topics:

1.  Landuse systems

2.  Plant ecology

3.  Animal ecology

4.  Water and irrigation

5.  Biodiversity

6.  Desertification

7.  Salinization and Salinity

8.  Social systems and ecology

9. Strategies for economic and environmental development