In this issue: Desertification - A fresh approach; Agenda 21, Chapter 12: Managing Fragile Ecosystems: Combating Desertification and Drought; Forthcoming Convention on Drought and Desertitication; Desertification Control: Costs and Benefits; The Trends of Desertification and its Rehabilitation in China; Taming the Thar Desert of Rajasthan; Soil Erosion and Productivity: A Brief Review; Process of Sand Dune Vegetation in the Rajasthan Desert; Raising the Productivity of Arid Lands by Planting Trees and Shrubs; Regional Cooperation Land Degradation and Soil Conservation in Eastern and Southern Africa: A Research Agenda; Outline of an Action Programme to Combat Desertification and Promote Food and Energy Production in the Southern African Snb-region.