In this issue: UNEPSth Session of the Governing Council. SS. VP: Land Degradation; Combating Desertification in Iraq; Sustainable Agriculture and Pastoralism as a Means of Combating Desertification: Which Road Do We Take?; Human-Made Desertification in the Aral Sea Basin: Planning and Management Failures; Aquifer Management: A Key to Food Security in the Desert of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Estimation of Desertification Damage and the Cost of Land Rehabililalion: A Methodological Approach; lraq's Food Security: The Sand Dune Fixation Project; Water Development and Desertification; Alternate Use of Sodic and Non-Sordic Irrigation Waters in Semi-Arid Regions; Halophytes: Their Potential as New Crops in Coastal Deserts and Saline Inland Regions Using Brackish Water Irrigation; National Joint Forest Manaentent Project. Haryana, India: A Success Story in Land Degradation/Deserliticatton Control; Learning from an Experiment to Combat Deseniiicatioii in China; etc.