The GCC countries (we call them Gulf States-GS) are capital-rich nations and have no foreign exchange limitation for food import. The region has also benefitted from the recent increase in oil prices and has almost one quarter of the world’s proven natural gas reserves. Despite the GCC region being capital-rich and despite all government efforts and support to increase local agriculture production through financial assistance and subsidies, in 2008 agriculture input to GDP was less than 1 percent in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and 2.0 percent, 2.8 percent and 3.9 percent in Oman, UAE and Saudi Arabia, respectively. The population engaged in agriculture varies e.g., in Qatar, it is 0.8 percent, Bahrain 1 percent, Kuwait 1.1 percent, UAE 3.2 percent, Saudi Arabia 5.5 percent and Oman 29.2 percent. In the GS, annual population growth rate of 3.5 percent was reported in 2008. The GS are located in a water-scarce region. There is a shortage of freshwater resources, the groundwater is brackish, and thus most water demand is met through nonconventional water resources, that is from high-cost desalination. Water scarcity, poor soil resources, low rainfall and high evapotranspiration, climate change impact (rise in temperature and sea levels, decline in rainfall etc.) can greatly impact agriculture in the the region. Due to various impacts, the arable land has declined from about 0.2 ha per capita in 1961 to less than 0.15 ha per capita in 2003. Most of the GS have completed national soil maps. They identify areas [(Saudi Arabia 13.7 percent); Oman (7.07 percent), Kuwait (35 percent), Abu Dhabi emirate (5.4 percent) and Qatar (3.9 percent)] as highly to moderately suitable for large-scale irrigation farming. The question is: do the GS have sufficient water resources to farm these areas? In 2007, global humanity’s total Ecological Footprint (EF) was 18 billion global ha (gha); with world population at 6.7 billion people, the average person’s footprint was 2.7 gha, with 11.9 billion gha biocapacity (1.8 gha per person). Thus, it is apparent that humanity uses the equivalent of 1.5 planets to provide the resources we use and absorb our waste. This means it now takes the Earth one year and six months to regenerate what we use in a year. Today, more than 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries that use more resources than what is renewably available within their own boundaries. In the GS, such figures are astonishing, where the nominal difference between the EF and biocapacity in gha per person is: Kuwait 5.92; Oman 2.85; Qatar 8.0; Saudi Arabia 4.29; and UAE 9.83 compared to the world 0.92. There is a net deficit between ecoresources generated and that consumed and wasted. This difference is compensated through food import, and in GS the total bill of food import ballooned from $8 billion to $20 billion from 2002 to 2007. Given these existing and predicted challenges, the GS are seeking new options for food security. There are many ways by which they can achieve food security, like intensification in local food production using high-tech multi-pronged approach (rationale use of soil resources, modern irrigation systems, protected agriculture, water conservation, sector wide water reforms, use of alternate water sources); continuing food import; outsourcing food production to countries which have comparative advantage for agricultural expansion; leasing farmland abroad, and through creation of a GS-Food Reserve to be used in case of emergency for at least two years. There are, however, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in achieving food security by the above means. There are three main driving forces for land lease abroad: 1) to secure food supply by increasingly food-insecure nations; 2) the surging demand for agrofuels and other alternate energy sources and; 3) the sharp rise in investment in both the land market and the soft commodities market. Some view leasing prime land in poor developing countries as a threat to their food security, as over 35 countries live on food aid policies. Others view it as an opportunity as the GS have increased access to food resources and “host” nations benefit from investments in the form of improved agricultural infrastructure and increased employment opportunities. Acquisition of farmlands in resource-poor countries may provoke food insecurity. Some are of the view that if land lease is the potential way to meet food demand, then it is sensible to lease land where there are resource surpluses (abundant soil and water resources) concentrated in ecological creditor countries, which currently do not utilize their full biocapacity and where production cost is lower. However, this is not the present scenario and there have been GS land deals in poor developing countries. To avoid provoking food insecurity in poor developing countries and for GS to achieve food security, another school of thought is: “if GS acquire marginal lands (saline land resources) which are set aside and currently either not under production or cannot be brought into production due to poor economic resources of the host countries, and the investors bring them into production through integrated soil reclamation approach, with the condition that the prime agricultural lands are left for host country, and this practice does not upset the local market, farmers rights and food policies, and arrangements are properly negotiated, local manpower receive training on high-tech in agriculture production, practices are sustainable, and benefits are shared by the investors and the host countries, it is only then the investment abroad has a positive case and both the investors and the host countries are in a win-win situation”. If this scenario is widely supported and accepted, then there are worldwide opportunities for Gulf States to lease marginal lands (over 1 billion ha worldwide available) to achieve food security. The above issues will force policy-makers into rethinking about agriculture in the Gulf and to seek ways for food security. The workshop welcomes multi-pronged approaches; these can enhance local agricultural production and help resolve issues related to bridging the gap between local food production and food import to meet GS food demand. The workshop expects a range of issues relevant to GCC countries to be debated including but not confined to the topics given below: ‐ Agricultural policies ‐ Agriculture and water governance ‐ Sustainable agriculture: problems and possibilities ‐ Agriculture and implications on the environment ‐ Climate change impact on agriculture ‐ Prospects of using reclaimed water (treated wastewater) in agriculture ‐ Biosaline agriculture and food security ‐ Socio-economic aspects of agriculture production ‐ Investment in farmland abroad ‐ Ecological footprint and biocapacity ‐ Role of international organizations in agricultural research ‐ Government interventions (subsidies) in agriculture and implications ‐ Food import policies ‐ Creation of Gulf States’ food reserve