Former ambassador Jan Eliasson is currently the United Nations Secretary General Special Envoy to Darfur, Sudan. He was Sweden's Ambassador to the US from September 2000 until July 2005. He has been, and is currently, Visiting Professor at Uppsala University in Sweden, lecturing on mediation, conflict resolution and UN reform. Mr. Eliasson has been posted to New York, Paris, Bonn, Washington and Harare. Here, Mr. Eliasson gives a first hand report of desertification, its relevance to issues of risk and security and his hope for a diplomatic settlement in Darfur.