About the Center

The Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD) was established in 1968 in Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic. It is a specialized organization working within the framework of the League of Arab States (LAS) aiming at unifying national efforts to develop scientific agricultural researches in the arid and semi-arid areas and exchanging information and expertise in a way that ensures benefiting from scientific advancements and transferring, developing and localizing modern agricultural techniques in order to increase agricultural production in these areas.

ACSAD’s work is supervised by a General Assembly composing of the member Arab Ministers of Agriculture and an elected Executive Council composing of seven representatives of seven Arab countries. The work is distributed among several specialized departments namely; “Lands and Water Uses”, “Water Resources”, “Animal Wealth”, “Plant Resources”, “Economy and Planning” and “Financial and Administrative Affairs”.

ACSAD’s tasks are reflected in facing the challenges which are imposed by arid and semi-arid environments with fragile agricultural systems, by providing applied scientific data and developed techniques in a way that allows a wide-range implementation of the tasks of the agricultural and social development process and optimal use of renewable natural resources in the arid areas.

ACSAD is authorized with big responsibilities in terms of agricultural development and exploring ways of achieving water and food security through developing new highly-productive and draught-resistant cereal varieties; providing reliable genetic resources of fruit trees, pastoral crops and livestock lines appropriate for Arab arid environments; achieving integrated water resources management and use rationalization; achieving a solid management of treated saline and waste water uses in agriculture; conserving environment and biodiversity; combating desertification; rehabilitating decertified areas and establishing databases for water resources, lands, plant resources and livestock.

ACSAD conducts its researches, studies and tests at its prevailed research stations in Syria and research centers in Arab countries. It keeps linking the research and study results with their application and dissemination at the widest-range. The accumulated distinguished expertise of ACSAD, throughout its long-term march and good reputation in the Arab World, has made it a house of expertise at both; the regional and international levels.

The research and study results are circulated through ACSAD’s cooperation with the Arab agricultural research centers and regional and international organizations, in addition to the scientific conferences and training courses organized by ACSAD at its established training centers, starting from the long-term group courses to the individual training opportunities, seminars and publication of specialized scientific reports and periodicals. ACSAD has adopted the technical cooperation mechanism as one of the effective tools to implement its programs and activities through establishing close relations and linkages with several Arab and international organizations and commissions and scientific research centers of several developed countries.