Arid zones, commonly referred to as deserts, cover 15 percent of the earth’s terrestrial area. For too long, the arid zones have been stereotyped as vast, desolate, lifeless seas of sand despite the fact that they are home to over 140 million people, and represent some of the world’s most unique ecosystems. Arid zones are one of the world’s most disadvantaged regions with inhospitable climate, poor soil and vegetation conditions and often a highly dune-infested difficult terrain, which together make living very challenging, despite the huge revenues generated from exploitation of oil and gas in some. Animal and crop husbandry are still the most dominant occupations in these regions, with a long tradition of sustainable livelihood options that are getting threatened by modernity. Arid zones are, however, some of the well-researched regions of the world, and the last three decades have witnessed a surge in research for development at national, regional and international levels, resulting in better understanding than before of the region’s resources, problems and practicable solutions. However, as the technological solutions to problems became available, pressure on the finite resources increased several-fold, through increased population, intensification of agriculture, etc., while climate change and global trade practices are putting more uncertainties to the existing land use practices, leading to many new challenges. Looking to the future, arid zones may well hold the keys to mankind’s ability to adapt to a warming world, and meet the multifaceted threats posed by climate change. Many of the world arid areas have well-established research institutes for desert-related problems, e.g., in Australia, China, Egypt, India, Israel, Mexico, South Africa, Turkmenistan, USA, etc., while several other nations like Canada, Japan, France, UK, other European countries, Japan, and some international organizations like UNCCD, UNESCO, UNEP, CGIAR, etc., immensely support arid land research and development. Consequently, the knowledge base on the arid land characteristics and problems, as well as on strategies for their amelioration, is sizeable. Despite this, the problems of arid zones remain a major challenge, especially due to the immense environmental constraints, the upcoming threats of global warming and implied uncertainties in human adaptations and resource use capabilities of the vast disadvantaged segment of the society, as well as the fast-changing geo-political scenarios. It is time for the arid zone research communities to deliberate on these pressing issues of common interest and share the experiences to devise strategies for meeting the future challenges and a brighter future. Towards this goal an International Conference on "Nurturing Arid Zones for People and the Environment: Issues and Agenda for the 21st Century" is being organized at Jodhpur during 24-28 November 2009 jointly by the Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhpur, which will complete fifty years of its dedicated research on arid lands in October 2009, and the Arid Zone Research Association of India (AZRAI), founded by CAZRI researchers and now largely supported and nurtured by the dryland research communities in India.