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On behalf of the Working Group on Desertification in and around Arid Lands I offer thanks to the following for their organizational and financial support:
To Dr. Andrew W. Wilson of the Department of Geography, University of Arizona, for planning the programme and for all the material arrangements. The success of the meeting, with its major stimulus to the Working Group and its related activities, is owed directly to his considerable efforts on our behalf. We also thank him and Mrs. Wilson for their generous hospitality.
To the University of Arizona for hosting the meeting, particularly to the President, Dr. John Schaefer, for opening the proceedings, and to the Dean of the College of Business and Public Administration, Dr. Rene Manes, and the Head of the Department of Geography and Regional Development, Dr. Richard W. Reeves, for their sponsorship.
To Miss Patricia Paylore of the Office of Arid Lands Studies, University of Arizona, for help and counsel in arranging the local programmes and for bibliographic materials, and to Director Joseph Hraboski and Mrs. Jane Peterson of the Office of Business Conferences for assistance beyond the call of duty with arrangements, reservations and budgets.
To Dr. Jack Johnson, Director of the Office of Arid Land Studies, for facilitating visits by participants and encouraging support by many members of his staff.
To the many faculty members of the University of Arizona who gave their time to participate in the meeting and its excursions. Several members of the university participated in the local panel discussions and in the reporting session on related MAB activities. We are particularly indebted to the guidance of Dr. Thomas W. Maddock Jr. on the post-meeting excursion, to Dr. Carl N. Hodges and his associates at the Environmental Research Laboratory, Tucson, and to many others who helped with local excursions and who are mentioned in the text.
Thanks are also due to Mr. Bill Tatom, Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, for arrangements for the visit to the Papago Indian Reservation; to the Chairman of the Tribal Council, Mr. Cecil Williams; and to members of the Presbyterian Church at Sells for their hospitality. The Group is also deeply indebted to the many officials and farmers who guided and instructed us on the post-meeting excursion to irrigated districts in the southwestern USA.
Financial grants towards the cost of the meeting and its excursions, and towards the fares and the expenses of participants, were received from UNESCO under the MAB Programme, from the International Geographical Union, and from the United Nations University. Without this assistance the meeting could not have been held and its essential international attendance would not have been achieved.
Funds have also been made available by UNESCO and the United Nations University towards the cost of editing and publishing these proceedings in the United Nations University Natural Resources Series.
With my co-editor, Andrew W. Wilson, I acknowledge warmly the support of the University of New South Wales in the compilation of the report, and in particular the assistance of Simon Berkowicz and Diana Bryers of the School of Geography at all stages in the preparation and editing of the materials.
J.A. Mabbutt Chairman
IGU Working Group on Desertification in and around Arid Lands
Project Co-ordinator, United Nations University Arid Lands
Sub-programme
December 1979