A WOCAT management meeting will be held from the 15th - 17th February in Rome.

The global management team consisting of CDE, FAO and ISRIC and further invitees will discuss among others a strategy for scaling up of LADA/WOCAT (DESIRE) tools and methods and the form and date of the next WOCAT workshop in autumn 2010.

On Tuesday 16th February, an open LADA/WOCAT seminar is planned on 'LADA/WOCAT tools to address today’s global challenges - potential applications for assessing land degradation and sustainable land management and for supporting decision making. 

The morning of the seminar will provide an opportunity:

• to share the tools. experiences and potential applications of the LADA/WOCAT toolbox and of the networking already in place, and
• to hear from you of potential applications /adaptations for your programmes and opportunities for expanding the partnership process

In the afternoon it is planned to follow up with those interested to share information on projects/ideas for scaling up strategy. Suggestions could feed into LADA phase II.