Environment and Energy

Who We Are

The Drylands Development Centre (DDC) is a centre of excellence dedicated to working with people to fight poverty in the drylands of the world. The Centre helps to influence policies and bring about lasting changes. The Centre recognizes that about one billion people depend directly upon the natural resources of the drylands for their livelihoods, and that many of them are poor and marginalized. Achieving sustainable development in the drylands has significant implications for reducing poverty and hunger worldwide. Over forty percent of the world is dry and over 2.3 billion people live there. Of the population living in dry areas approximately 1 billion are poor which accounts for close to half of the world's poor.
It will be impossible to meet the Millennium Development Goals of halving world poverty and hunger by 2015 unless life is improved for the people of the drylands. Fortunately, the drylands have the potential to be productive and there is a real opportunity for the people who live there to prosper.

1) We carry out research and analysis of policies that affect communities in the drylands, and provide advice and policy-making support to decision-makers.

2) We help countries to design and manage capacity development programmes in their drylands, and help to ensure that national policy and planning frameworks address the social and environmental concerns of dryland populations.

3) We build partnerships, generate knowledge and promote learning. Our learning networks link local level actors with the international community.

4) We promote the strengthening of the capacities of individuals and institutions at the local level while working to ensure that national policy and legislation support local development.