Efforts to thwart the trafficking of conflict commodities to finance wars constitute an ongoing endeavour. As specific approaches become effective for certain commodities, belligerent actors pursue new forms of exploitation.

The ongoing use of landscape-based conflict commodities — diamonds and other minerals, timber, wildlife, etc. — to finance wars continues to evolve. The success with which such commodities can be transacted to support militaries, militias and insurgencies has led belligerents to innovate with additional commodities.

Dust storms are capable of transporting sediment over thousands of kilometers, but due to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s proximity to the Sahara Desert, the region is one of the dustiest in the world.

FOOD SYSTEMS ARE EVOLVING QUICKLY TO MEET GROWING AND CHANGING DEMAND, BUT THEY ARE NOT SERVING EVERYONE’S NEEDS. As we modernize food systems to make them climate-smart, healthy, and sustainable, we must also strive to make them inclusive of smallholders, youth, women, conflict-affected people, and other poor and marginalized people.

The local cost-effective, raised-bed machine for small-scale farmers has been developed by ICARDA and its national partners to promote the adoption of raised-bed technology at a larger scale.

Countries of the Near East, North Africa, Europe and Central Asia (NEN) region face a myriad of social, economic and political challenges that have stalled their structural and rural transformation processes. This has had a detrimental impacton rural youth, who, as a result, face limited economic opportunities. The NEN region has the highest youth unemployment rates in the world.

This explanatory video illustrates the higher crop yields and increased water efficiency as a result of the raised-bed agriculture component of the project.

ICARDA continued to play a critical role in the development, improvement, and dissemination of climate-resilient crop varieties last year. The varieties strengthened food and nutritional security and provided a critical defense against extreme temperatures, water scarcity, and the emergence of new pests and diseases.

This publication demonstrates the scope of research and human resources development
over the period between January 2014 and March 2019. It highlights some of the
accomplishments as the result of the collaborative efforts among the seven countries of
the Arabian Peninsula, project donors, and ICARDA-APRP.