A core component of ICBA’s applied research and development programs is developing capacity through the operation of two formal networks: the Global Biosalinity Network (GBN) that promotes collaboration between individuals involved in research and development on biosaline agriculture, and the Inter-Islamic Network for Biosaline Agriculture (INBA): a forum for mutual collaboration and cooperation among the members of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) in the field of biosaline agriculture. As well ICBA incorporates opportunities including participation in global events such as the World Water Forum, collaborating with other scientists to share expertise in scientific fields in fora such as workshops and sharing knowledge through publications and conference presentations. Three training sessions on the technology of cultivation of new dual-purpose crops, methods of their multiplication and utilization at the farm level were conducted during the year in Uzbekistan in ICBA’s efforts to improve natural rangelands management. To build capacity among local farmers in the United Arab Emirates, ICBA conducted the first training course, an introductory course for extension officers, during April 4-6. Attended by 24 staff of the Western Regional Agricultural Centers, the training course covered topics on Biosaline Agriculture, agronomy, irrigation and soil salinity management, thus familiarizing the trainees with topics such as management, salinity, scientific measurements, and new crops. A one-day hands-on training on soil and water measurements was also held in the field.
During the year over 105 people from the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Central Asia and Caucasus benefited from ICBA’s emphasis on capacity building. Technological advances in biosaline agriculture was the theme of the training of extension officers in Liwa (Abu Dhabi Emirate) to further their knowledge in the management of salt-tolerant crops/forages, soil and water. Organized through the Farmers Service Center, the officers learnt about salinity challenges, non-conventional crops and irrigation management. ICBA experts in wastewater management hosted in Dubai their counterparts from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, the World Bank, the International Development Research Center, the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation and the Singapore National Water Company in a workshop organized by ICBA, the Arab Water Council and the Islamic Development Bank.
The importance of marginal quality water in agriculture and food security in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the well-received topic at a seminar sponsored by the Islamic Development Bank Group. ICBA, in cooperation with King Abdulaziz University and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, convened the seminar at the 36th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Focusing on solutions to improve food security in the Arab region, the First Arab Symposium that was held in Kuwait was co-organized by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the World Bank. ICBA outlined how research and innovation could be harnessed for Arab food security aspirations. During the Middle East Agribusiness Forum held in Dubai, ICBA identified the many ways in which biosaline agriculture is linked to food security. During the first year of the project to diversify crop and livestock to adaptation to climate change, there were 7 farmer training events, 3 specialist workshops and 5 field days and the project review meeting in Cairo (April). All the project staff and 170 farmers were trained in the selection of stress-adapted forage cultivars, determination of optimal seed production procedure, and crop management given climate change constraints. ICBA and the Desert Research Center in Egypt organized the annual coordination meeting of the technical committee of the project Adaptation to climate change in WANA marginal environments through sustainable crop and livestock diversification. Members of the committee, who came from Egypt, Jordan, Oman and Syria, met in Cairo from 12 to 14 April, to progress the major project, which is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the OPEC Fund for International Development, the Islamic Development and the national agricultural research centers of Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia. In partnership with USAID, NASA and the World Bank, the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) hosted a regional workshop on the Middle East and North Africa - Land Assimilation System (MENA-LDAS). Joining representatives of the World Bank, USAID, NASA and the Arab Water Council were the ICBA MAWRED project team and scientists from Morocco, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Tunisia.
Qatar and Liwa, Abu Dhabi: extension officers in the field
A workshop to initiate a project focusing on crop diversification and sustainable management of marginal land resources in three countries (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan) in Central Asia took place in June in Uzbekistan. The goal of the project is to improve land productivity and livelihoods of poor farmers living in salt-affected and degraded areas. Representatives from two to three institutes from each country that will be working in different field areas that are affected by the various forms of salinity problems participated in the workshop.The project is funded by the Islamic Development Bank and is being led and coordinated by the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture. In addition to the NARS of the partnering countries, international research centers, ICRISAT and ICARDA, are also participating. In the global water sector ICBA is working towards water solutions by coordinating a Target and Solutions Group for the 6th World Water Forum in Marseilles in March 2012. The Forum, which has been held every three years since 1997, seeks to develop global awareness of water issues and promote the importance of water on the political agenda. ICBA has convened a group of water experts located in international and national centers in Australia, India, Italy, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Syria and the United States of America, who are formulating practical solutions to increase the safe use of non-conventional waters, either treated wastewater or other marginal quality water. The importance of ICBA’s scientific research findings on date palms was recognized during the prestigious Khalifa Date Palm Awards. ICBA was one of the eight winners chosen out of 131 regional and international participants with its research on the Potential of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Technology for Date Palms which was awarded second place in the first category of Distinguished Research and Studies.

Key outcomes of ICBA’s research programs are the development of the competencies of collaborators and technology transfer to ensure that research deliverables are disseminated as widely as possible. ICBA creates training opportunities to meet the needs of project partners and beneficiaries. Over the last 12 years ICBA has conducted many training events for over ….. participants from more than …. countries. These training events can range from one day to several weeks and are offered in ICBA’s training facilities in Dubai or in partnering countries, as the following examples show.

Workshops
ICBA and the Omani Directorate General of Agriculture and Livestock Research organized a workshop on the review of the national strategic plan by a panel of national and international experts, representatives from the various Omani stakeholders and partners. In partnership with USAid, NASA and the World Bank, ICBA hosted a regional workshop on the Middle East and North Africa – Land Data System (MAWRED)comprising representatives and scientists from ICBA, World Bank, USAid, NASA, The Arab Water Council, and a delegates from Morocco, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Tunisia.

Field Days
During the first year of the project to diversify crop and livestock to adaptation to climate change, five field days were held to demonstrate the selection of stress-adapted forage cultivars, optimal seed production procedures, and more productive crop management.

Participation in Conferences
The outcomes of the Abu Dhabi Soil Survey, a project conducted by GRM International, ICBA and Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, were discussed at the International Conference on Soil Classification and Reclamation of Degraded Lands in Arid Environments with 250 participants from 35 countries. The conference was also the forum for a workshop on the utilization of soil survey data in land use planning and policy implications.

For the 6th World Water Forum in Marseilles, ICBA coordinated a panel of water experts located in international and national centers in Australia, India, France, Italy, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Africa and the United States who outlined practical solutions to increase the safe use of non-conventional waters, either treated wastewater or other marginal quality water.

Establishment of model and demonstration farms
Within the United Arab Emirates, the farmers are benefiting from a long-term collaboration between the Farmers’ Services Center (FSC) and ICBA to sustain farm‐level productivity in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi by introducing improved farming management practices. FSC and ICBA recognize that farming community participation will speed up the selection and introduction of new crops to diversify production systems and after consultation have developed model and demonstration farms, as well as holding field days.

In the northern (Dashauz) and southern (Mary) provinces in Turkmenistan, ICBA, the Institute of Desert Flora and Fauna and the Turkmenistan Ministry of Nature Protection established demonstration sites to assess the impact of water saving, drain-water use and crop diversification on feed livestock production.

Learning Alliances
Farmers, animal breeders, agro-pastoralists and householders are developing in both provinces in Turkmenistan a model of a Learning Alliance for ‘Joint Arid Biosaline Food and Forage/Livestock Production.

Interns
With funding from the International Atomic Energy Agency, a scientific technician from Algeria spent 3 months in training at ICBA. Using various learning modes such as lectures, field and laboratory training and farm visits, the intern worked with ICBA specialists in the following areas: determination of soil and irrigation water salinity threshold tolerance to different types of crops; techniques and criteria for assessing salinity tolerance of halophytes; data management on crop and soil salinity; and data analyses and report writing.

Training News Are you looking for ICBA News? Please Click here. From 2000 to 2012 ICBA has conducted many training programs at its Headquarters in Dubai and internationally in partnering countries. These training programs have been conducted on a number of topics including plant production systems in marginal lands, soil and land use management, socio-economic assessment and water resources management. A total of 1184 trainees from different regions have participated in the training.

Regional Training Workshop (BADEA) Regional workshop in Oman on socioeconomic assessment MOEW upskilling at ICBA ICBA shares modeling & satellite data assimilation methods with Tunisia ICBA conducts training workshop in Egypt "Farmer Schools" MOEW and ICBA collaborate on training course Regional Participants Attend ICBA Workshop

Regional Training Workshop, Reclamation of land affected by salinity in Africa (BADEA)

<Home>  <Gallery>  <Up>   13 - 24 January 2013 Dr Ismahane Elouafi, Director General of the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) launched on 13 January 2013 the Regional Training Workshop on “Reclamation of land affected by salinity in Africa”. The 2-week training workshop is organized for African French-speaking countries at ICBA headquarters in Dubai and funded by the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA). Participants came from Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Mali, Chad, Niger and Guinea Equatorial. In her speech, Dr Elouafi welcomed the participants and urged them to gain knowledge from ICBA’s scientists and experts. She also highlighted ICBA’s participation in implementing research and strategic studies and projects in many regions in the world affected by water and soil salinity especially Sub Saharan Africa. Dr Elouafi also emphasized the importance of the capacity development in this field and commended on the strong cooperation with the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa for many years, especially in the area of human capacity development of the African continent in Biosaline Agriculture and implementing it in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the host of the centre. Dr Mohamed Amrani, ICBA’s Director of Research & Innovation highlighted in his speech the main topics of the training workshop and mentioned that ICBA has carried out several training courses since 2008 in collaboration with the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa which had benefited about 75 researchers and technicians from 20 African countries.

Regional workshop in Oman on socioeconomic assessment

<Home> <Gallery> <Up> 6 - 9 January 2013 As part of the activities of the regional project on “Adaptation to climate change in WANA marginal environments through sustainable crop and livestock diversification” the International Center for Biosalinse Agricultue (ICBA) organized a regional workshop on “Guidelines and methods for socioeconomic assessment and farm surveys” in Muscat, Oman from 6 to 8 Januarys 2013. The workshop was followed by a farmers’ field day on “Techniques for on-farm forage processing, handling and utilization” on 9 January. The course was organized by ICBA in collaboration with the Directorate General of Agriculture and Livestock Research (DGALR) of Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in Oman. The workshop was attended by 30 participants from Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Yemen. The workshop aims at meeting the Interest and demands for regional experts’ capacity building (for member countries that joined the project at later stage and for countries with less capacity in such areas). The workshop objectives were to enhance basic methods and skills in socioeconomic studies as relevant to the applications of the ACC project, basic methods and skills in farm surveys and practical application and farm surveys. Dr Abdullah Dakheel, Project Coordinator chaired the sessions where all participants reviewed during the workshop the relevance of the socio-economic studies to the forage and climate change adaptation project and dealt with surveys planning, implementation and data analysis. A field day to Omani farmers was attended by the participants of the workshop in addition to around 15 farmers. A field practice on the techniques for on-farm forage processing, handling and utilization was given on 9 January by Dr Hassan El-Shaer of the Desert Research Center in Egypt.

<Home>  <> 18 December 2012 Mr Abdullah AlShaer, Acting Undersecretary of the UpMinistry of Environment and Water for Technical Affairs, attended the final day of the three-day ICBA training course for Methods and Management Techniques for Integrated Marginal Water held on December 18th. The training course focused on the standards and technologies for using t treated wastewater in agricultural production. Mr AlShaer stressed the importance of ICBA’s training course to enhance Ministry objectives: especially the sustainability of water, food security and the environment by using new technologies to manage marginal treated water. Use of this resource is one of the strategic choices that help countries with limited resources of water to increase the production of agricultural commodities, and reduce environmental damage. His Excellency added, ‘We also look forward to cooperate with ICBA in to developing and setting the standards and the practices required to be used in the treated wastewater and implement it to make it useful and beneficial to farmers and therefore increase and diversify crops that can be produced using this water. Furthermore the ministry will work with ICBA to provide [practical] training opportunities and develop the extension services in this area to the public and the consumer. On this occasion I would like to thank ICBA for its continued cooperation with MOEW in training and developing the human resources at the Ministry and Governmental Institutions. I would also like to thank the experts and the scientists’. Mr AlShaer emphasized that MOEW and ICBA will work together to execute the next stage of the development plan for the year 2013 by scheduling training courses run by ICBA experts. Dr Ahmed Abdul Ghaffar Al-Sharif, Deputy Director General of ICBA, concluded the program by expressing his appreciation to MOEW for their strategic vision for the development of National Human Resources in the UAE, and the trust and honor given to ICBA to implement this integrated program. He added that the program had been developed in collaboration between MOEW and would be extended to all UAE government staff. He also thanked the participants and the scientific experts who contributed to the success of the program session.

MOEW upskilling at ICBA

ICBA shares modeling & satellite data assimilation methods with Tunisia

<Home>  <Up> 18-19 November 2012 Mr Karim Bergaoui, ICBA Climate Modeling Scientist, represented ICBA at the Utilisation [de la télédétection pour l’amélioration de la gestion des resources en eau et adaptation aux changements climatiques] – LDAS Tunisie, which was held 18-19 November 2012 in Tunis, Tunisia. At the national workshop on the use of remote sensing observations in the management of water resources and climate change adaptation, Mr Bergaoui shared with delegates from national and international institutions the results of ICBA’s MAWRED project, that uses modeling and satellite data in order to : Monitor the groundwater changes in a regional scale (MENA region). Monitor the amount of water used in irrigation. Develop a high resolution land surface model for MENA countries (1km spatial grid). Develop atmospheric tools for adapting climate change scenarios from CMIP5 and assess the impact of climate change on water resources in the region. During the workshop, participants were divided onto four different working groups focusing on: crop mapping, groundwater and surface water, drought monitoring and climate change. Mr Bergaoui then assisted the four groups to understand the different techniques and methods used in the MAWRED project and aggregated their feedback for the World Bank and NASA teams. Mr Bergaoui’s facilitation was very well-received by the participants; so much so that they were keen to work with ICBA and to fund training sessions in ICBA to work especially on the dynamical downscaling of climate scenarios by using the high performance computing facilities at ICBA. Subsequently they would like to install a Land Information System (LIS) for Tunisia during the second phase of the project. Tunisia is one of the five GEF countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon are the others) that the MAWRED team are assisting to understand the technology used by NASA (and transferred to ICBA) to optimize the management of water resources at a national scale in order to adapt to climate changes. Click here to learn more about MAWRED

ICBA conducts training workshop in Egypt    “Farmer Schools for Forage Production and Utilization Techniques under the use of Marginal Water Resources”

<Home>  <Gallery>  <Up> 4 - 7 November 2012 The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) has conducted a training workshop in Egypt on 4-7 November, 2012 – titled: “Farmer schools for Forage production and utilization techniques under the use of marginal water resources”. This training workshop is part of the regional project “Adaptation to Climate Change in WANA Marginal Environments through Sustainable Crop and Livestock Diversification”, which involves eight partner countries: Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Oman, Palestine, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. This project is funded by several international donors namely the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD). The main objective of this workshop was to develop a model for farmers’ school on the integrated forage-livestock systems under the utilization of marginal quality water resources to be replicated in all partner countries. In addition, the training aimed to train extension facilitators to carry out in-country farmers’ school and to involve few progressive farmers from the countries, who are part of the project activities, to be trained and to work as facilitators in technology transfer and adoption in their community. Twenty five senior extension staffs from Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen had participated in the training workshop in addition to the participation of over forty farmers from Egypt, Jordan and Yemen. “The farmers’ school was extremely successful and received extreme media coverage in Egypt and a high level participation of decision makers and NGOs”, said Dr. Abdullah Dakheel, coordinator of this project and the workshop. The outcome of the workshop was reflected by developing a work plan by the partner countries to establish farmer field schools in their respective countries. Farmers’ schools will be divided according to summer crops schools and to winter crops schools and these schools will be mainly targeted towards small holder farmers and rural women role in the integrated forage-livestock systems.

MOEW and ICBA collaborate on training course

<Home>   <Gallery>  <Up> 15-18 October 2012 Integrated management technologies of saline water was the focus of a four-day workshop held at ICBA from 15-18 October which brought together delegates from the Ministry of Environment and Water, Abu Dhabi Food Control Agency, municipalities and specialists from ICBA. In her introduction to the workshop, Dr Ismahane Elouafi, ICBA Director General, highlighted the importance of biosaline agriculture as an ecological and environmental solution to the water-scarcity affecting arid and semi-arid regions. For more than twelve years, the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) has continued to fulfill its mandate outlined in its Strategic Plan 2008-2012 to help water-scarce countries improve the productivity, social equity and environmental sustainability of water use through an integrated water resource systems approach, with special emphasis on saline and marginal quality water. Dr Elouafi stressed that ICBA implemented this mandate through strategies such as workshops to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and experience and transfer the training and technologies of applied science to national cadres. The workshop outlined the challenges affecting the agricultural components of water, soil and crops and how biosaline agriculture is being developed to meet these challenges. Please see our complete Gallery Environmental challenges such as water scarcity, land degradation and desertification, biodiversity loss, forest degradation, deterioration of marine and coastal environments, atmospheric changes and pollution, and urban environmental problems and resource deterioration are affecting water supplies. Scarce water supplies impact consequently on food security and farmers’ livelihoods, so the utilization and management of saline water in agricultural production is critical. Water Productivity Research To address issues impacting on water security at the regional, local and international level, in recent times ICBA has been steadily increasing its role in applied research and technology transfer in the water sector. One of the strategies to accomplish this is by addressing how water is used through water productivity research to optimize irrigation usage and enhancing the use of alternative water resources. Several sessions on irrigation management in the saline environment provided the audience with the opportunity to see the kinds of innovative irrigation technology that is most applicable to the UAE environment. A critical source of water used to produce date palm or cash crops in greenhouses or to supply drinking water to livestock in the UAE is groundwater which has been desalinated. Throughout the UAE many small-scale reverse osmosis (RO) plants are used to desalinate groundwater to produce date palm or cash crops in greenhouses or to supply drinking water to animals and poultry. The use of such technologies requires proper brine concentrate management or disposal practices; otherwise disposal practices can lead to groundwater pollution. Consequently ICBA had been commissioned in 2010 by the Minister of Environment and Water to undertake a thorough analysis of twelve plants in inland areas and three plants in coastal areas in the United Arab Emirates to evaluate the performance of membrane technology, irrigation management and brine disposal practices. These research findings informed the practical workshop discussion about environmentally sustainable brine disposal options. Water and crops Integrated water management and the improvement of water use efficiency in the salt tolerant production systems in the UAE are essential strategies to meet the challenges. Salinity in the irrigation water is a main abiotic stress that causes yield and quality reduction for the key crops in the UAE: date palm and field forage crops. This is common to most of the countries of the Middle East and North African (MENA) region where water resources are becoming more affected by the climate change. Irrigation using saline water causes also soil salinization/sodization for at least 25% of the arable lands in the UAE and 85% in Kuwait. At the same time, there is an increasing need of water due to the increasing human demand for irrigation for the agricultural, domestic and industrial sectors. However, confined aquifers contain a limited quantity of water that is becoming more saline especially in coastal areas where sea intrusion is accentuated by the water pumping (for example, in the case of Al-Batinah region in Oman). Consequently, the use of marginal water resources is inevitable, but with profitable production systems adapted to salinity in order to reduce ecological impacts. The most adapted systems are based on the cultivation of forage crops to support livestock production essential for farming systems of the region. During the last decade, ICBA selected the optimal production and management systems for various salinity levels encountered in the MENA and Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) regions. These systems are based on field forage crops (including barley, triticale, pearl millet, sorghum, fodder beet, canola, cowpea, guar and sunflower) and shrubs (atriplex, acacia and sesbania), as well as perennial grasses (buffel grass, alfalfa, Sporobolus and Distichlis). Safflower is also recommended for the dry climates and is considered as a cash crop that has a high potential of marketing in the region. About 9400 accessions of 220 crop species were screened for salinity tolerance in various experimental systems (Petri dishes, hydroponic, pots and small plots). In addition, series of on-farm trials were set up in the UAE and other Arabic countries: Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen) and in central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Kurdistan). During the field days there were many demonstrations of the selected production systems and the corresponding managements including the irrigation best practices. About 310 accessions were selected for cultivation under extremely harsh conditions in these regions and many international actions were achieved through multiple projects funded by various sponsors: Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB), International Foundation (IFAD), OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD). In addition, there were about 160 species (from 51 genera) that were identified in the UAE for a high potential for salinity tolerance and cultivation for conventional purpose and as medical plants. All of these crops introduce a high level of diversification in the farming systems so to increase their resilience to increasing salinity caused by adverse effects of the climate change. These field forage crops as well as the date palm (18 widely grown commercial varieties were tested at ICBA) are conventional crops that adapted to salinity levels varying from 5 to 15 dS/m, however shrubs and perennial grasses are non conventional and tolerate salinity in the irrigation water up to 30 dS/m (20 g/l). ICBA tested many crop management systems aiming at obtaining the full crop potential under the UAE conditions. The adopted management systems focuses on enhancing early vigor of the grown plants and water productivity at the field level by 30-40% compared to the conventional systems. The recent development in smart systems for integrated field management were proven to be highly efficient for improving irrigation scheduling and monitoring Alternative water resources such as marginal water sources and low-cost treatment processes need to be implemented. By using marginal resources effectively, efficiently and productivity, irrigation practices needs to be modified to conserve water and it intelligently and the soil system should be monitored to halt further salt salinity problems. Soil Management and Monitoring The importance of salinity monitoring to optimize crop production marginal lands was detailed for the workshop participants. Issues such as soil salinity development affecting the rootzone, the development of soil sodicity, soil structure loss, the subsurface hardness, poor nutrient use efficiency and crop failure due to the non-matching of soil salinity with the crop threshold level, are the problems in marginal saline lands. Successful soil management to overcome these problems is dependent on pre- and post-site assessment: to understand soil resource capacity to develop a successful soil management and use plan and then to ensure that site health is maintained. In the closing ceremony which included participants thanking ICBA and their respective institutions for initiating the workshop, HE Dr Mariam Al Shenasi, Assistant Deputy Minister for Technical Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Water, stressed the importance of strategic alliances with international organizations such as ICBA to encourage the development of projects and programs ensuring the capacity development of national staff. The partnership between the Ministry and ICBA enabled the transfer of technology from ICBA scientific experts to benefit the Ministry staff, whom HE Dr Al Shenasi expected to apply the acquired knowledge and skills to their day-to-day endeavors.

Regional Participants Attend ICBA Workshop

<Home>   <Gallery>  <Up> Sixteen people from seven countries in the region (Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen) learnt more about the importance of environmental impact assessment (EIA) and soil and irrigation management in the use of marginal quality water (MQW) in agricultural production when they participated in a specialized workshop organized by ICBA. Held at ICBA headquarters in Dubai, the workshop from 10 to 13 September 2012 enabled participants to strengthen their knowledge about: the principles of environmental impact assessment, particularly in relation to the use of saline and treated waste water(TWW) in agriculture; methodologies to assess the impact of irrigation with marginal quality water (both saline and TWW) on soil properties (profile and groundwater); the criteria to assess MQ water used in irrigation; risk assessment of MQW; and the appropriate soil and irrigation practices to minimize the impact of the use of MQW in irrigation. The workshop is a critical component of a major regional project, Adaptation to climate change in West Asia and North Africa (WANA) marginal environments through sustainable crop and livestock diversification, which ICBA is conducting in the seven countries plus Syria. With funding from the International Fund for Agricultural Research (IFAD), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the five-year project which commenced in 2010 is targeted to improve the livelihoods, resiliency to climate changes and income of poor farmers relying on marginal water and land resources in the WANA region.