In many dry areas in Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA), increasing population pressure is causing changes in land use that are degrading the region's natural resource base and threaten the livelihood of the inhabitants. Encroachment of cultivation and overgrazing are rangeland problems that the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and its partners are addressing in several countries. A survey was conducted in the Syrian steppe (Badia) to provide information needed to implement proper grazing management. Fifty communities including 313 households were randomly selected and surveyed in the spring of 2005 and the relationships between rangeland degradation, current management and community characteristics were determined. Rangeland degradation was assessed for each of the communities' rangeland. An index of degradation was determined by evaluating eight indicators. Rangeland utilization was high with over 70% of the forage consumed on 87% of the sites. The amount of forage produced by different range sites varied with over 80% of the sites producing less than 300 kg/ha. Results showed that the rangeland of some communities was more severely degraded than others.