This issue of Caravan looks at different aspects of desertification; and how ICARDA and its partners are working together to help farming communities find effective, sustainable solutions. These collaborative efforts have generated significant impacts at community level – higher crop yields, more sustainable farming systems, more incomegenerating opportunities for the poor. Equally important, they have yielded insights into the basic processes and impacts of desertification, and on factors that determine the success or failure of interventions to arrest land degradation. These research products are international public goods.