Adjunct Faculty: Uriel Saffriel

Uriel Saffriel is a Professor of Ecology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and the Focal Point of Israel as a Party to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. He completed his PhD in Ecology from Oxford University, England in 1976 and was a Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan, Ann-Arbor.

He served as the Former Director of the Blaustein Institute for Desert Research at the Sede Boqer Campus of Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and Head of the Science and Management Wing and Chief Scientist of the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority. He is currently on Sabbatical in the Geography Department, the University of Maryland at College Park. He is currently studying ecological responses and adaptations to global climate change and ecology of desertification. During his current sabbatical year two research proposals, “Optimizing land use in the Middle East for economically viable, socially acceptable, and ecologically sustainable development” and “Towards sustainability of grazing systems in afforested drylands: Optimizing dryland afforestation with dryland grazing” were prepared in collaboration with Stephen D. Prince (UMD), the latter one already funded.

Example Publications:

Portnov, B.A. and Safriel, U.N. 2004. Combating desertification in the Negev: dryland agriculture vs. dryland urbanization. Journal of Arid Environment, 56, 659-680.

Safriel, U. 2005. Dryland development, desertification and security in the Mediterranean. In: Desertification in the Mediterranean Region. A Security Issue. W.G. Kepner, J.L. Rubio, D.A. Mouat, and F. Pedrazzini (Eds.). NATO Security through Science Series, Volume 3, 605p., Springer Publishers, Germany.

Adeel, Z. and Safriel, U. 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Desertification Synthesis. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, World Resources Institute, Washington DC.