Preface: Welcome to Texas and Introduction toDesert Technology 11 (DT 11) International Conference
Tim D. Davis (Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture and Department of HorticulturalSciences, Texas A&M University, USA), Conference Chair, & William A. Payne (ICARDA,CGIAR Dryland Systems, Ethiopia), Conference Vice Chair
Over two years ago, Desert Technology 10 (DT 10) was successfully held in Narita, Japan in May 2011 (Table1). At that venue, 142 participants from 29 countries convened to address many important issues related to desert
environments. For the first time, DT10 was also held as the 1st International Conference on Arid Land (ICAL1). This
offered an opportunity for interdisciplinary discussion among fields of research including natural, technological, human,and social sciences aimed at mitigating desertification. Since that time, the issue of global climate change has become
even more critical. As world population continues to grow, climate-related challenges will become increasingly
important to address using sound science and technology. Countries and cities located in arid regions will particularly
need solutions to problems related to desertification. Accordingly, studies on desert and arid lands will be of continued
importance in formulating such solutions.
Table 1. Chronological list of the Previous Desert Technology (DT) Conferences.
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ConferenceMonth/Year

Site (Country)

Conference Chair(Affiliation)

1st

August 1991

Santa Barbara,
California (USA)

Kenneth E. Foster(University of Arizona)

2nd

December 1993

Kona, Hawaii (USA)

Isao Endo (RIKEN)

3rd

October 1995

Fuji-motosuko (Japan)

Toshinori Kojima(Seikei University)

4th

September 1997

Kalgoorlie (Australia)

Adrian R. Williams(Curtin University ofTechnology)

5thOctober 1999

Reno, Nevada (USA)James A. Young(USDA, ARS)

6th

September 2001

Urumqi (China)

Xuncheng Xia (Xinjiang
Institute of Ecology andGeography)

7th

November 2003

Jodhpur (India)

Sanjay Kumar (B.R.A.
Bihar University)

8th

November 2005

Nasu (Japan)

Yukuo Abe (Universityof Tsukuba)

9thNovember 2008

Douz (Tunisia)

Moncef Harrabi(National Institute ofAgronomy of Tunis)

May 2011
Narita (Japan)
Hiromichi Toyoda
10th (also first ICAL—International Conference(Tokyo University ofon Arid Land)
Agriculture)________________________________________________________________________________________________Conferences on Desert Technology have been held 10 times since 1990 (Table 1), addressing many important
issues related to deserts and desertification. Although the conferences have been a great source of learning andinformation for many international scientists, much more work is needed to address the critical issues related to life inarid regions of the world. The DT conferences welcome researchers who investigate deserts and arid regions fromdiverse aspects of sciences, including natural science and the humanities. The last DT conference to be held in the U.S.
was in Reno, Nevada in 1999.
San Antonio was chosen as the site for DT11 because it is a city that welcomes guests and is located in an area
where water is a major issue. The state of Texas has 11 ecological zones, most of which face serious issues related towater. A significant portion of west Texas is occupied by the vast Chihuahuan Desert which occupies about 363,000
km2 across 3 states and 2 countries. Drought conditions are common and expected in this region. But many otherportions of the state of Texas also face serious challenges related to water and aridity. Indeed most of the state has been
affected by severe drought during the past several years. Agriculture is an important component of the Texas economy
which is seriously affected by drought and water shortages. In addition, many urban areas face significant water
restrictions which are becoming more critical every year. Thus many of the papers from this conference are of direct
relevance to the host state.
In this conference, there were over 100 participants with author/co-authors representing 28 countries,
contributing 52 oral presentations and 38 poster presentations. This included a significant number of first time
participants. The venue provided an opportunity to renew friendships and create new professional relationships. We
also hope the conference provided an opportunity for invigorating the mind thereby bolstering our ability to addressdesert issues in the future. During the conference, plans were further developed for DT 12 which is to be held in Egypt
in 2015 with Prof. H. El-Shemy as Conference Chair. Further, announcements and invitations were made for the 2nd
International Conference of Arid Lands Study (ICAL2) to be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 2014, with Dr. Kristina
Toderich serving as conference chair. India was identified as the host country for DT 13 to be held in 2017, with Prof. S.
Sinha serving as conference chair.
We would like to thank all DT 11 participants and we would especially like to extend our appreciation to allsponsors (Table 2) who provided important financial support. We express gratitude to the Japanese Association for Arid
Land Studies which has continually fostered participation in the DT conferences. Indeed, Japanese scientists presented
more papers at DT 11 than any other country, including the host country, U.S.

Table 2. Sponsors of DT 11.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
x Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, Texas A&M University
x Dryland Systems Research Program, Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, ICARDA
x Japanese Association for Arid Land Studies
x Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University System________________________________________________________________________________________________

Special appreciation is expressed to Valerie Weber, Conference Coordinator, of Texas AgriLife Conference
Services who did an outstanding job with logistics. Carmen Byce and Gabriel Saldana of the Borlaug Institute forInternational Agriculture also played important logistical roles in helping make the conference a success.
The International Advisory Board members, who helped provide direction and suggestions regarding thisconference were: T. Kojima (Japan), H. Toyoda (Japan), T. Morio (Japan), T. Nakamura (Japan), Y. Abe (Japan), R.
Harper (Australia), H.S. Gehlot (India), S. Kumar (India), S. Sinha (India), M. Harrabi (Tunisia), K. N. Toderich(Uzbekistan), H.A. El-Shemy (Egypt), M. M. Abu-Zreig (Jordan), R. Misak (Kuwait), D. Leskovar (USA), and A.
Michelsen (USA). This group also served as members of the Editorial Board (Table 3) for this special issue of Journalof Arid Land Studies. Their efforts in helping make the conference a success are gratefully acknowledged.

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We are also grateful for the local organizing committee members who provided support and suggestions
regarding conference logistics.
Local Organizating Committee members were: Raul Cabrera (Uvalde), Catherine Clement (College Station),
Bryan Davis (San Antonio), Monty Dozier (Bryan), Daniel Leskovar (Uvalde), Ari Michelson (El Paso), and Bob
Stewart (Canyon). Committee members Cabrera, Clement, Dozier, and Stewart also served on our Editorial Board(Table 3), which is greatly appreciated. We thank Matthew Driffill of the San Antonio Water Authority and Ann Gabrieland Calvin Finch of the Water Conservation and Technology Center, who hosted post-conference tours.
The proceedings of the conference are being published as a special issue of Journal of Arid Land Studies. Eachmanuscript was peer-reviewed by at least two persons. We thank the Editorial Board and many ad hoc reviewers who
took time to provide editorial recommendations regarding the manuscripts.

Table 3. Editorial Board members for DT 11.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Y. Abe (Japan)

M. Abu-Zreig (Jordan)

R. Cabrera (USA)C. Clement (USA)T. Davis (USA)M. Dozier (USA)H. El-Shemy (Egypt)

H.S. Gehlot (India)

M. Harrabi (Tunisia)

R. Harper (Australia)

T. Kojima (Japan)

S. Kumar (India)

D. Leskovar (USA)J. Mexal (USA)A. Michelsen (USA)R. Misak (Kuwait)

T. Morio (Japan)

T. Nakamura (Japan)A. Nefzaoui (Tunisia)

G. Niu (USA)W. Payne (Ethiopia)

K.Toderich (Uzbekistan)

H. Toyoda (Japan)

S. Sinha (India)

B. Stewart (USA)S. Van Pelt (USA)K.Yoshikawa (Japan)_________________________________________________________________________________________________

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