FORT COLLINS, Colo.—Colorado State University on Thursday signed a formal agreement with the United Nations to work on research on the deterioration of the world’s dry lands.
CSU scientists have been working with the U.N. informally for two years but the agreement, signed at the school’s Fort Collins campus, formalizes that relationship.
The agreement came as the U.N. announced the North American launch of its decade-long initiative addressing desertification. CSU said it was the first time a university has been picked to host such an announcement.
The executive secretary of the U.N. convention on desertification, Luc Gnacadja, said CSU was picked because of its expertise in natural resource management.
He said American universities’ agricultural extension services could be a model elsewhere in the world.
“The strength of the U.S. interdisciplinary approach is very important, and it is not universal. Evident in the universities is the linking of biophysical systems through social sciences,” he said in a statement.
Ceara, Brazil, hosted the global launch of the initiative in August. The European launch will be held in London next month.
The U.N. said about 2 billion people, a third of the Earth’s population, are potential victims of desertification, which is defined as land degraded by human activities like farming and grazing.
