The scientific corpus of the conference, therefore, can be devised around the following topics and axes: local development, territory, globalization, poverty, migration and the sustainable management of natural resources. They can be specified as follows:

1. What are the processes of socio-economic and territorial development encountered in the difficult zones?
   A historic overview of socio economic and territorial processes, along with an analysis of socio economic, operating agrarian systems and appraisal of the state of progress will be highlighted;
   
   
2. What is the relationship existing between difficult zones and globalization? To answer this question, priority will be given to the topic of globalization penetration rate and the response given by the difficult zones to help tackle the issues of social, economic, climatic and environmental changes.
   
3. What are the new constraints and requirements (economic, environmental, institutional, demographic …) entailed by the new context of the difficult zones? (Climate changes, increase of food prices, Crisis of energy, etc.);
   
4. How to analyze and improve the economic efficiency of the natural resources use? Effectiveness of the instruments and the current modes of regulation of the external effects observed in connection with the collective or individual exploitation of these resources, alternative modes of regulation, appreciation of the agricultural production growth adjusted by the environmental costs;
   
5. Which answers proposed and implemented by stakeholders (public, private, associations) with reference to political, economic, social, institutional and environmental issues? What are the newly-emerging reproduction plans and what are their characteristics to help meet the accumulation or dis-accumulation needs of the local capital? What are the transfer mechanisms required to ensure this mode of reproduction? What is the explicit rationale to justify the country or region development legitimacy? What new mode of organization should populations acquire to face these new challenges? ;
   
6. What prospects for the difficult zones in the new context? Which efficiency and relevance strategy to adopt in order to respond to the requirements of any future sustainability?

At the spatial level, particular attention will be paid to dry and desert zones, given their specific characteristics in terms of vulnerability, scarcity of resources «extreme situation ", difficulty to respond to socio-economic and environmental change, and notably climate variability.
Approaches such as systematic, multidisciplinary approach and multi partenarial and multi actors approach will be taken into consideration in the debates and participations in the conference.

The organizers of this conference would like to give a chance to all stakeholders, involved in this event, such as scientists, decision-makers, developers, NGO, development partners, landlords and international bodies to meet, exchange viewpoints and come out with good recommendations and conclusions.