Dear GNDRI member,

As agreed in the last meeting (December 17, 2008, see Minutes of GNDRI Meetings, the BIDR was expected to select "a suitable time and location for the next meeting of the Steering Committee, trying to link it, but also avoid clashes with relevant events" (Decision 9 of the above meeting).

Following an agreement of all GNDRI members achieved by 20 June 2010, the next meeting will take place back to back with the Third International Conference on Drylands, Deserts and Desertification (DDD): The Route to Restoration, taking place in Sede Boqer Campus of Ben-Gurion University, Israel, on November 8-11, 2010 (for details and program see http://www.entersymposium.com/ddd/site/default.htm), on Thursday, November 11, 1500-1830, at the DDD Conference venue.

The agenda will include the Coordinating Institute's report, projected plans, and the election of the third Rotating Chair of GNDRI. In this context, please note Decision 2 of the December 17, 2008 meeting:

2.4 The third rotating Chair of GNDRI will be determined by the next meeting of GNDRI steering committee.

We hope to see the representative(s) of your Institute there!


Best regards,

Uriel Safriel
GNDRI Coordinator of GNDRI on behalf of the BIDR


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Dear GNDRI member,

GNDRI will be presented to the delegates attending the 9^th Conference of the Parties (COP9) of the UNCCD and to the participants of the Scientific Conference linked to the COP, in a “side event” during the lunch break (i.e. starting at 1pm and ending 3 pm) of Thursday, 24^th September, 2009.

COP9 opens on Monday 21st September and terminates on 2^nd October 2009, and the Scientific Conference (open to the public, following registration) starts on the afternoon of 24th September and ends in the afternoon of 24^th September. Thus, the “side event” in which GNDRI is to be launched will take place in the lunch break between the morning and the afternoon (last) session of the “Scientific Conference”.

In this “Launching GNDRI” side event GNDRI coordinator will describe what GNDRI is and how it functions. Following this presentation (which includes describing GNDRI website), representatives of GNDRI member institutes will make presentations of their institutes, focusing on activities that support the implementation of the UNCCD.

So far representatives of DRFN (Namibia), ICRISAT (international, in India), ALRC (Japan), IADIZA (Argentina), ICASALS (Texas, USA), and BIDR (Israel) agreed to present the work of their institutes in this side event. This message is also an invitation to other member institutes of GNDRI to be included in the program, for presenting their respective institutes in the “side event”

We hope to see all GNDRI members represented in Room 3 of COP9 venue in the Buenos Aires Hilton Hotel, on Thursday, 24th September 2009, at 1 pm.

Finally, member institutes have been requested to appoint one or two of their staff that will be provided with the permission to post on GNDRI website new scientific publications of their respective institutes. Those members that have not done this are requested to send the coordinates of their appointees to BIDR@bgu.huji.ac.il


Sincerely yours,

Uriel Safriel
Coordinator of GNDRI, on behalf of the BIDR


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