Online Second International Laayoune Forum on Biosaline Agriculture
Dear Colleagues,
It is a pleasure to announce the Second International Laayoune Forum on Biosaline Agriculture (LAFOBA2). This e-conference is organized jointly by the African Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute (ASARI), Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), and the OCP foundation in partnership with Phosboucraa foundation and the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA). LAFOBA2 will be held online from June 14 to 16 in 2022 and will be free of charge.
We invite you to submit an abstract of your recent work on biosaline agriculture and other conference themes.
Kind Regards
Conference chairs
Choukr-Allah R. & Hirich A.
Welcome from the Chairs
Dear Colleagues,
It is a pleasure to announce the Second International Laayoune Forum on Biosaline Agriculture (LAFOBA2). This e-conference is organized jointly by the African Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute (ASARI), Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) and Phosboucraa foundation in partnership with the OCP foundation and the In ternational Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA). LAFOBA2 will be held online from June 14 to 16 in 2022.
The Forum is organized in view of enormous impact soil and water salinization has on ecosystems, agriculture, livelihoods and food security worldwide. It is important to clearly map the areas already affected by salinity or at risk on a global scale and develop and implement strategies and practices to effectively and efficiently address these effects.
The forum is also a continuation of the previous successful First International Laayoune Forum on Biosaline Agriculture, as salinity still affects many aspects of human life and the concept for the use of saline water for irrigation to increase food production has been advocated by many research scientists, organizations, institutions and authorities for the last more than five decades.
The forum will also look at the progress that has been made in salinity management at national, regional and global levels. As practice and policy on salinity management have been further advanced, the forum will benefit a wide range of stakeholders, including scientists, policymakers and experts, in that it will serve as a platform for exchange of knowledge on the latest advancements and work on salinity.
Salinity management and effective use of saline soil and water resources for food, feed and biofuel production will be the overarching objective of the forum.
The forum will also have the following broad objectives:
- to share examples of successful strategies, policies, measures, projects, and case studies to adapt to and mitigate salinization around the world for current and future scenarios considering climate change
- to form linkages and partnerships between various national, regional, and international initiatives targeting salinization
- to facilitate dialogue between policymakers, donors and development agencies, scientists and experts
- to develop joint proposals of action at national, African, and international levels
LAFOBA2 is a virtual conference sponsored by OCP foundation, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and Phosboucraa Foundation. Participation is free of charge for authors and attendees. Accepted short papers will be gathered in the proceedings of the conference that will be published online in Environmental Science Proceedings, ISSN: 2673-4931 (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/environsciproc).
After the conference, the Committee will select manuscripts that may be included for publication in Special Issue "Advances in Biosaline Agriculture" (Plants | Special Issue : Advances in Biosaline Agriculture (mdpi.com)) in Plants journal (ISSN: 2223-7747; impact factor: 3.935 (2020), Journal Rank: JCR - Q1 (Plant Sciences) / CiteScore - Q2 (Plant Science)) and undergo full peer review. Conference participants are encouraged to submit a full paper to the dedicated Special Issue. The Sponsoring journal Plants will provide a 10% discount on the Journal’s Article Processing Charges to all conference participants that submit a paper to the Special Issue. Only 1 discount per person and per submitted article will be allowed. Note as well that this journal discount cannot be combined with any other discount type provided by MDPI. Selected best papers (Number not yet determined) will be fully supported by the conference sponsors regarding publication fees.
LAFOBA2 offers you the opportunity to participate in this international, scholarly conference without the concerns or expenditure of travel — all you need is your computer and access to the internet. We would like to invite you to attend this conference and present your latest work.
Event Chairs
Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), African Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute (ASARI), Laayoune, Morocco
The potential of new alternative forage crops in salt-affected environments: success stories
Assistant professor of Biosaline agriculture in Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, African Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute in Laayoune, Morocco since January 2020. Prior to his current position he was scientist at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, Dubai from 2017 to 2020 and Postdoctoral fellow from 2014-2016. He has PhD in agricultural sciences (IAV HASSAN II, Morocco), MSc in land and water resources management (CIHEAM-IAMB, Italy) and Engineer diploma in Horticulture (IAV HASSAN II, Morocco). His expertise is focusing on Biosaline agriculture, salinity management, horticulture, irrigation management, alternative crops, fertigation...etc. Hirich was leading several projects within the context of biosaline agriculture with a total budget more than 11 Million USD implemented in several countries including Morocco, Egypt, UAE and 7 Sub-Saharan countries. He has more than 75 publications in journals, book chapters and international conferences. Prior to his position with ICBA, Abdelaziz was working as a researcher within the GLOBAQUA and SWUP-MED EU funded projects and horticulture engineer consultant with many private agribusiness companies in Morocco.
abdelaziz.hirich@um6p.ma
Senior Fellow, International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, BP: 14660, Dubai, UAE,
Former Professor at Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, Rabat, Morocco
The role of biosaline agriculture in achieving food security
is a horticultural, soil, and water environmental expert with more than 35 years of experience in the use of saline water and the use of pretreated sewage in Horticulture. He earned a PhD in environment horticulture at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, USA. He also served as a technical coordinator of a 12 million project, financed by USAID on the water resources sustainability in Morocco. He served as head of the Horticulture Department from 1983 to 1996 and as head of the salinity and plant nutrition laboratory since 1996. He served at ICBA as a senior fellow scientist in horticulture and a Section Head of Crop Diversification and Genetics. He has produced numerous publications, including edited books, research reports, articles in peer-reviewed international journals, and books in the field of nonconventional water.
redouane53@yahoo.fr
Keynote Speakers
President of the International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage, ICID (2020-2023),
Fellow at UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, UK
Salinity management: Issues related to measurements, modelling, irrigation systems, land preparation, crops, leaching and crop water requirement
UKCEH Fellow, hydrologist and water resources management specialist. Long experience of being employed by both universities and research centres. Expert in catchment hydrology, irrigation, drainage, soil hydrology, soil physics, soil-water-plant –atmosphere relations, impact of land use and climate, change on water resources, water& food security and drought management. President of the International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage, ICID (2020-2023) and Vice President (2010-2013) of the International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage, ICID (www.icid.org), the Chairman of the Permanent Committee on Strategy and Organization, PCSO of ICID (2010-2014), Chairman of the Working Group on Water & Crops, ICID and was the Chairman of the British National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, ICID-UK (2007-2011), founder of the WG on the use of poor quality water for food production, ICID. International Adviser to the Brazilian National Institute of Salinity studies and to King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, and UNDP. Lecturer and external examiner to various Universities in and outside the UK. Recipient of several International Awards. Reviewer for more than 15 International Journals and evaluator for several funding organizations. Author and Co-Author of numerous scientific papers and Editor and Co-Editor of several special issues of International Journals as well as Conference Proceedings. Member of the Editorial Boards of four scientific journals. Developed two widely used models, SALTMED for field scale as a tool for integrated management of water, soils, crops and N- fertilizers and IHMS (Integrated Hydrological Modelling System) for catchment/basin scale.
Professor of plant science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Associate Director of the Center for Desert Agriculture,
Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Red Sea Farms LLC
Genetic characterization of salinity tolerance traits to increase salinity tolerance in crops – and the delivery of research outcomes
Mark Tester is professor of plant science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Associate Director of the Center for Desert Agriculture and co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Red Sea Farms LLC. In 2019, he was Head of the Food Sector at NEOM. Prior to joining KAUST in February 2013, he was an ARC Federation Fellow and professor of plant physiology at the University of Adelaide, where he established The Plant Accelerator. Previously, he was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, where he also received his PhD in 1988. Mark is now enjoying developing saltwater-based agricultural systems, to improve sustainability of food production.
Genomic, plant physiology, abiotic stress, salinity tolerance
Head of the Research and Extension Unit, Office of Innovation at FAO of the UN
Discussion panel about Biosaline agriculture
Dr. Selvaraju Ramasamy is currently the Head of the Research and Extension Unit, Office of Innovation at FAO of the UN. He currently leads development of FAO programme on resilient marginal agricultural areas and technical support for strengthening Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) and coordinates partnerships with National Agricultural Research Systems and Extension and Advisory Services and their regional networks. Dr Ramasamy manages the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP), a multi-stakeholder G20 initiative on capacity development for agricultural innovation. He represents FAO at the CGIAR System Council, Inter-agency task team of UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) and the board of the Global Forum on Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS). Since 2007 with FAO, he held many advisory and coordination roles, including the Chair of the Partner Advisory Committee of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) (2015-2019), FAO’s focal point for UNFCCC Nairobi Work Programme and WMO partnership (2009–2019) and work on resilience to natural hazards (2016-2018). Before FAO, he was a Senior Scientist (climate risk management) with Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, Bangkok (2005-2007), and managed several multi-country research projects on climate forecast applications as the principal investigator (2000-2005). He was a visiting scientist at the Queensland Centre for Climate Applications and University of Western Sydney, Australia, East West Centre, Hawaii and International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), New York (1999-2002). He started as a scientist with Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) (1994). He holds a PhD in Agronomy (1994) specialized in agroclimatology and crop modelling.
Director of Strategy at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco
Innovation and research for marginal areas: some lessons and prospects
Director of Strategy at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. Prior to his current position, Dr. Serraj was the Delivery Manager of the Regional Initiative on Small Scale Family Farming and Rural Transformation, in Near East and North Africa, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Senior Project Officer with the Secretariat of the Science Council of the CGIAR. From 2010 to 2012 he was Director of Diversification & Sustainable Intensification of Production Systems (DSIPS) at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). Dr. Serraj has an extensive experience in research and development and occupied several positions in various international research centres and organizations such as IRRI, IAEA, ICRISAT. He holds a PhD in crop science and agronomy from Montpelier University, France in 1987. He is author of more than 250 publications and several books, international reports, and studies.
marginal environment, innovation, strategies, sustainable farming
rachid.serraj@um6p.ma
Dr Didier BAZILE (M) is a senior scientist based at CIRAD, Montpellier France. Agronomist, Didier is an active researcher in agroecology with a focus on agrobiodiversity. He received a Ph.D. in Rural Geography (1998) considering both conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity and he was graduated as Director of Research (HdR) from Montpellier University in 2014. After different international experiences (Africa, Asia, South America), he joined the CIRAD in 2001 as Principal Scientist where he develops an ecosystem approach for in situ conservation of biodiversity and promotes participatory research. From 2008 to 2012, he took the position of Associated Professor at PUCV Chile working for quinoa’s biodiversity characterization and sustainable use. He has coordinated various international research programs on quinoa. For the International Year of Quinoa in 2013, Didier coordinated the book called “The state of the art report on quinoa around the world in 2013”. During 2014-2016, he was invited at FAO-HQ to serve as Visiting Expert and Quinoa International Focal Point. During this time, he gave technical assistance to 31 countries experimenting quinoa. He is the founder and facilitator of the Global Collaborative Network on Quinoa (gcn-quinoa.org). Today, he serves as Cirad Biodiversity Advisor. He wants to integrate his experience on multilevel and multiples actors dialogues for facilitating new partnerships for quinoa development in different geographical regions considering all actors and, in particular women.
Full professor of soil science and program lead of the Center for Soil and Fertilizer Research in Africa (CESFRA) at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Morocco
The complexity of salt-affected soils formation and their implication to sustainable management
Prof. Fassil Kebede is a full professor of soil science and program lead of the Center for Soil and Fertilizer Research in Africa (CESFRA) at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Morocco. He obtained his Doctor of Science degree in soil science from the Department of Soil Science and Geology, Faculty of Science, Gent University, Belgium on 16 September 2002. In addition, he has acquired a postdoc training from same university, Gent University, BELGIUM in 2003 and from the School of Natural Resource Management, Bangor University, UK in 2007. He has more than 25 years teaching, research and leadership experiences starting his career as a lecturer of soil science to a stepwise development of the various academic ranks, viz., assistant professor, associate professor and full professor of soil science in the major public universities of Ethiopia including Haramaya University, Mekelle University, University of Gondar, Jimma University (invited professor) and Addis Ababa University (invited professor). During these years, he was engaged in teaching courses, such as tropical soils, their properties and management; soil fertility and plant nutrition; soil chemistry; managing of salt affected soils and soil testing. Furthermore, Prof. Kebede managed to supervise more than 60 M.Sc. theses and 20 PhD dissertations. He has authored over 70 articles. Besides, he has served in different administrative positions such as an academic dean, an advisor to the Minister of Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resource of Ethiopia and Director General of the Ethiopian Soil Resource Institute to worthy mention among others.
Soil fertility, fertilization, plant nutrition, soil chemistry, salinity
fassil.kebede@um6p.ma
Founder & Director The Salt Doctors, Netherlands
Creating opportunities for salt-affected farmland
Arjen de Vos started specializing in saline agriculture in 1999 during his Masters at the VU University in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. After his PhD on saline agriculture, he started working at Salt Farm Texel (the Netherlands), focussing on a practical approach to identify salt tolerant crops. During those years he was working as the Director R&D and tested over 800 varieties of 50 different crops for salt tolerance. We have found salt tolerant varieties of conventional crops and we have also implemented the cultivation in various countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Kenya. Besides the research and implementation, Arjen de Vos is also contributing to scientific papers, he was part of the EU Focus Group on Soil Salinization and is an active member of the WASAG-FAO workgroup on saline agriculture, as well as INSAS (International Network of Salt-Affected Soils). Recently, he has started his own company called The Salt Doctors. The Salt Doctors (www.thesaltdoctors.com) is an independent social enterprise from the Netherlands that specializes in creating resilient farming systems for salt-affected areas. We often do this by understanding and adapting to the local conditions, developing cultivation strategies for improving crop yield under saline conditions, and putting the solutions into the hands of farmers at the same time. We achieve this by research and consultancy, providing practical training in the field (Training-of-Trainers) and assisting with the implementation from sowing to harvesting. We implement projects all over the world, with a focus on how to deal with salinity in a sustainable, cost-effective way.
arjen@thesaltdoctors.com
Africa Genome Center, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Ben Guerir, Morocco
Role of soil microbes to enhance crop tolerance to salinity
Dr. Hijri obtained his BSc in 1994 in Cell Biology, and his DEA (MSc equivalent) in 1995 in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Burgundy (Dijon, France). He obtained his PhD in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology (option: Molecular Genetics) at the University of Burgundy (Dijon, France) in 1999. His PhD project aimed to study the organization of the genetic polymorphism of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Scutellospora castanea under the supervision of Prof. Hubert Dulieu at the INRA Dijon. In 1999, Dr. Hijri joined the lab of Dr. Ian Sanders at the University of Basel (Switzerland) as a postdoctoral fellow and worked on molecular genetics and the evolution of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. He then moved with the Sanders Lab to the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) in 2000 and continued as a postdoctoral fellow until 2005. Dr. Hijri then joined the IRBV and the Département de Sciences Biologiques of the Université de Montréal in September 2005. Dr Hijri was promoted to associate professor in 2010 and to full professor in 2016 at the Université de Montréal. In 2019, he joined the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (Um6P) as affiliate Professor, where he co-founded African Genome Center.
Prof. of Soil and Water Sciences, Soil Science Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Education: Ph.D. in Soil Science, Orogen State University, USA (1984) MSc. In Water Science University of California, Davis USA (1979) B. Sci in Agriculture King Saud University, Riyadh Saudi Arabia. Publication: over 120 articles and 6 books Editor in-chief of the Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences (2002- present) Member of the Editorial Board of the Arid Land Research and Management, USA (2003-present)
rasoul@KSU.EDU.SA
Chief Scientist at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, Dubai, UAE
Breeding of salt tolerant crops
Dr. Augusto Becerra Lopez-Lavalle joined ICBA as Chief Scientist in January 2022. A senior agricultural science leader with more than 12 years of experience in the international agricultural research-for-development sector, he has served in diverse scientific leadership roles in the CGIAR System. At the CGIAR, he was an agent for science and innovation for crop improvement, co-leading under the new One CGIAR the Genetic Innovation Action Area, a strategy for enabling tools, technology, and shared services to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the CGIAR System’s and its partners’ breeding programs. He had been the global crop improvement lead for the research program on roots, tubers and bananas in 2012-2016, and CIAT’s cassava program leader since 2016. Dr. Augusto Becerra Lopez-Lavalle is a trusted leader in building strong multidisciplinary teams and international scientific research networks for cooperation. He is deeply committed to fostering an environment where science, creativity and innovation pave the way for inclusion and fairness. At CIAT, which he joined in 2009, he managed the modern cassava breeding and the cassava program in Asia and Latin America. In particular, he led the development of the crop’s global sustainability strategy to increase and diversify its value chains for improving resource-poor farmers’ livelihoods. Prior to this role, he had worked at the CSIRO since 2001 as a cotton molecular geneticist based in Canberra, Australia. Dr. Augusto Becerra Lopez-Lavalle holds a PhD in plant molecular genetics from the University of Sydney, Australia, and an MSc in cytogenetics from Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University in Lima, Peru.
Scientific Committee
Fellow at UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, UK,
President of the International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage, ICID (2020-2023)
UKCEH Fellow, hydrologist and water resources management specialist. Long experience of being employed by both universities and research centres. Expert in catchment hydrology, irrigation, drainage, soil hydrology, soil physics, soil-water-plant –atmosphere relations, impact of land use and climate, change on water resources, water& food security and drought management. President of the International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage, ICID (2020-2023) and Vice President (2010-2013) of the International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage, ICID (www.icid.org), the Chairman of the Permanent Committee on Strategy and Organization, PCSO of ICID (2010-2014), Chairman of the Working Group on Water & Crops, ICID and was the Chairman of the British National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, ICID-UK (2007-2011), founder of the WG on the use of poor quality water for food production, ICID. International Adviser to the Brazilian National Institute of Salinity studies and to King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, and UNDP. Lecturer and external examiner to various Universities in and outside the UK. Recipient of several International Awards. Reviewer for more than 15 International Journals and evaluator for several funding organizations. Author and Co-Author of numerous scientific papers and Editor and Co-Editor of several special issues of International Journals as well as Conference Proceedings. Member of the Editorial Boards of four scientific journals. Developed two widely used models, SALTMED for field scale as a tool for integrated management of water, soils, crops and N- fertilizers and IHMS (Integrated Hydrological Modelling System) for catchment/basin scale.
Improving water productivity and water use efficiency, irrigation and drainage management, agricultural water management, soil physics/soil hydrology, remote sensing application in hydrology, hydrological modelling at catchment scale, quantifying the impa
rag@ceh.ac.uk
Associate Professor, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Buenos Aires (Plant Production Department), Argentina
Associate Professor, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Buenos Aires (Plant Production Department) and Independent researcher at Conicet, the Argentinean National Research Council. I studied Biology at the University of Cordoba, Argentina, and earned a PhD (including a year at CSIRO Plant Industry, Australia) in Agricultural Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires. My research and interest focus on quinoa´s crop and seed physiology, germplasm characterization, molecular markers, and quinoa domestication. I supervise agronomy MSc and PhD students on genotype by interaction patterns; resistance to pre-harvest sprouting; molecular and morpho-phenological characterization of germplasm; and crop carbon and nitrogen balance. I’m also involved in studying quinoa responses to temperature and photoperiod, crop adaptation, and application of molecular markers in archaeological samples.
Molecular and morpho-phenological characterization of germplasm; crop carbon and nitrogen balance; quinoa responses to temperature and photoperiod; crop adaptation; application of molecular markers in archaeological samples.
bertero@agro.uba.ar
Dr Didier BAZILE (M) is a senior scientist based at CIRAD, Montpellier France. Agronomist, Didier is an active researcher in agroecology with a focus on agrobiodiversity. He received a Ph.D. in Rural Geography (1998) considering both conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity and he was graduated as Director of Research (HdR) from Montpellier University in 2014. After different international experiences (Africa, Asia, South America), he joined the CIRAD in 2001 as Principal Scientist where he develops an ecosystem approach for in situ conservation of biodiversity and promotes participatory research. From 2008 to 2012, he took the position of Associated Professor at PUCV Chile working for quinoa’s biodiversity characterization and sustainable use. He has coordinated various international research programs on quinoa. For the International Year of Quinoa in 2013, Didier coordinated the book called “The state of the art report on quinoa around the world in 2013”. During 2014-2016, he was invited at FAO-HQ to serve as Visiting Expert and Quinoa International Focal Point. During this time, he gave technical assistance to 31 countries experimenting quinoa. He is the founder and facilitator of the Global Collaborative Network on Quinoa (gcn-quinoa.org). Today, he serves as Cirad Biodiversity Advisor. He wants to integrate his experience on multilevel and multiples actors dialogues for facilitating new partnerships for quinoa development in different geographical regions considering all actors and, in particular women.
Quinoa; biodiversity; conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity
didier.bazile@cirad.fr
Director of Nebraska Water Center and professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Nebraska, USA
Chittaranjan Ray is the director of Nebraska Water Center and professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Nebraska. Besides supervising the functions of Nebraska Water Center, he also supervisies the fucntions of the Water Sciences Laboratory, a Core Research Facility that supports the research of faculty members in the University of Nebraska System. Nebraska Water Center is part of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute at the University of Nebraska. Dr. Ray serves in the leadership capacity mentoring faculty members find funding in water research and help them develop collaboration with other domestic and international partners.Nebraska Water Center serves as an interface between the stakeholders (general public, state and local agencies, and private entities) and the university in solving water related problems of the state through research, education, and outreach. In the past, his researh focused on water quality in food production systems, development and analysis of low-cost water treatment technology, and mathematical modeling of ground water contamination. More recently, he uses mathematical tools and big data concepts to understand water use efficiency and water productivity of irrigated agriculture. He also tries to focus on the overall sustainability of such production systems by examining the potential for soil and ground water, impacts to urban and rural drinking water systems, and future climatic scenarios. He is leading two efforts for the university leadership: a) Farm of the Future, and b) Water and Integrated Cropping Systems that includes faculty, Extension educators, private sector, local governments, and agricultural producers. Some of the projects of his research group include: • Development of a water productivity atlas for Nebraska and estimation of water footprint for agriculture and energy related industries operating within Nebraska • Integrated assessment of surface and ground water systems to reduce impacts on stream ecosystems in areas undergoing intensive irrigation. • Assessment of the
water quality in food production systems, development and analysis of low-cost water treatment technology, and mathematical modeling of ground water contamination. mathematical tools and big data concepts to understand water use efficiency and water produ
cray@nebraska.edu
Professor in Climate Change at Wageningen University Research and VU Amsterdam, Netherland
Pier Vellinga (1950) graduated at Delft Technical University (1976). As researcher and deputy director he worked at Deltares where he wrote his phd on flood safety and coastal erosion during storm surges. In 1988 he joined the Ministry of Environment and organized the first ever international ministerial conference on Climate Change in 1989. In 1990 he joined the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam with a chair in Climate Change. His research and publications included an argued target of keeping climate change well below 2 degrees C in 1990. He was one of the co-founders and bureau members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for which he and his IPCC colleagues received the Nobel Peace Price in 2007. With many international colleagues he developed a research agenda on Industrial Transformation in 1998 (IHDP-IT). He also joined Wageningen University in 2007 as professor in Climate and Water and as scientific director of the Netherlands National Program on Climate Change. His research and scientific publications (more than 200) are about the societal implications of climate change in the fields of energy, water and food. Sea level rise has always been a key topic. Among many board positions in ngo’s, governmental committees and financial institutions he has been advisor to the Venice Water Authorities for about 30 years regarding the protection of Venice and its lagoon, a work successfully completed in 2020. In 2021 he co-edited the book about the Future of Sustainable Agriculture in a Saline Environment.
Climate change in the fields of energy, water and food, Sea level rise
pier.vellinga@waddenacademie.nl
Full professor at Cadi Ayyad University (UCA) Marrakech, Morocco
Mohamed HAFIDI obtained his Ph-D thesis in 1990 at National Polytechnic Institute, Toulouse, France, in Agronomic Science and “Doctorat d’Etat” in Agronomic and Environmental Science at Cadi Ayyad University in 1996. Mohamed HAFIDI is a full professor at Cadi Ayyad University (UCA) Marrakech-Morocco since 1990 and affiliate Prof at UM6P since 2018. His area of expertise is agronomic Sciences, Environment; Composting and Organic waste treatment and valorization, Soil and biofertilizers… He supervised 30 PhD theses, 10 ongoing supervised Doctorate, and published more than 250 publications with high impact factor, 25 chapters, 10 patents... He developed more than 30 research projects. Mohamed HAFIDI is currently Director of Microbial Biotechnologies, Agrosciences and Environment (BioMAgE) Laboratory, at Faculty of Sciences Semlalia (Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh). He is nomminated by the Ministry of Higher Education as an expert in the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifiques et Technique (CNRST, Morocco); for the period of 2012-2014 et 2015-2017 and 2019-2022. He is also Expert in DGD-AIRD (France) 2013-2016, Fonds de la recherche scientifique (Belgium), and other international programs…etc, He was the chair of the first edition of Mycoomed 2010 and Mycomed 2014 on mycorrhizal fungi. Main bibliometric indicators : -Index h: 47 (Google Scholar), -Index h: 41.5 (Researchgate), -Index h: 42 (Scopus) and –Index h: 35 (websciences).
agronomic Sciences, Environment; Composting and Organic waste treatment and valorization, Soil and biofertilizers…
Mohamed.HAFIDI@um6p.ma
Prof. of Soil and Water Sciences, Soil Science Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Education: Ph.D. in Soil Science, Orogen State University, USA (1984) MSc. In Water Science University of California, Davis USA (1979) B. Sci in Agriculture King Saud University, Riyadh Saudi Arabia. Publication: over 120 articles and 6 books Editor in-chief of the Journal of the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences (2002- present) Member of the Editorial Board of the Arid Land Research and Management, USA (2003-present)
SALTMED program and irrigation water management; The use of soil amendments (Biochar) and clay deposits in irrigation water conservation; Surface and subsurface drip irrigation and water conservation; Evaluation of water quality (Salinity Hazard), Irriga
rasoul@KSU.EDU.SA
Director of the Agricultural Innovation and Technology Transfer Center (AITTC) a Network of Experimental Farms throughout Africa at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
Dr. Mohamed El Gharous, a native of Morocco, is a Senior Consulting Scientist for the African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI) based in Benguerir, Morocco. He is also acting as Director of the Agricultural Innovation and Technology Transfer Center (AITTC) a Network of Experimental Farms throughout Africa at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. Mohamed received his engineering degree in horticulture from IAV Hassan II, Rabat and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Agronomy and Soil Science from Oklahoma State University, USA. Dr. Mohamed El Gharous was recruited by the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) in 1980 where he held various responsibilities in research and management. During his career, he has initiated and led several research programs on fertilization and plant nutrition in arid and semi-arid regions. These research programs concerned in particular the effect of N, P and K fertilization on cereals and food legumes grain yield and quality; improved recommendation techniques for farmers in terms of quality and quantity of fertilizer to apply in calcareous soils, compost and its effect on soil quality; and other agricultural and environmental research themes. He has participated and coordinated many collaborated research projects with national and international institutions. Dr. Mohamed El Gharous continues to contribute to the training and supervision of students from different universities. He also participated in several committees for thesis as a member and chairman. He has been a member of the Jury for the Selection of Deans for the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) of Settat and the Dean of the Faculty of Polydisciplinary Khouribga in 2004 and 2008 and the president of the University Hassan 1st in 2011. Dr. Mohamed El Gharous also served as Director of the Regional Center for Agricultural Research Settat for 16 years, board member of the Faculty of Science and Technology of Settat, member of the Joint Committee Franco-Moroccan Research Projects for Development (PRAD) and Chairman of different non-governmental associations. His partici
Plant jutrition, fertilisation, crop management, soil fertility
mohamed.elgharous@um6p.ma
Full Professor of Plant Physiology, at the University of Barcelona (1993) and Professor ICREA Academia (in 2013 and 2018). Research stages at the University of Georgia (US), the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (Syria), the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (UAE), the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (Panama), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT, Mexico), etc. He was a National Seconded Expert at the Directorate-General for Research of the EU (Brussels), Principal Scientist at the Global Maize CIMMYT. Coauthor in near 300 publications in WoS journals, mostly from the first quartile. He is and has been PI of several international projects and co-author on near 300 publications in SCI and SSCI journals, with an h-index (Google Scholar) of 80, and the recipient (2008) of the Friendship Award (China). Responsibilities in international and national research evaluation agencies
Plant physiology, abiotic stress
jaraus@ub.edu
Associate Professor, Department of Botany at Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Bihar, India
Dr. Atul Bhargava is currently working as Associate Professor, Department of Botany at Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Bihar, India. He completed his PhD in 2005 from National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow and postdoctoral studies from Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Cytogenetics at the University of Delhi. Dr. Atul Bhargava specializes in genetic improvement of crop plants, phytoremediation and nanobiotechnology. He has about 55 research papers in reputed journals, 4 books and numerous book chapters to his credit. He also has more than 3000 citations to his work. Dr. Atul Bhargava is also serving as an editorial board member of several international journals of repute.
genetic improvement of crop plants; phytoremediation: nanobiotechnology
atulbhargava@mgcub.ac.in
Dr. Laila has a Phd in agronomic sciences from INAT, Tunisia. She has a long experience in research in plant responses to abiotic stress (drought, salinity)
Salinity, plant physiology, drought
leila.radhouane@gmail.com
Associate Professor in Soil Science Department, Islamic Azad University, Iran
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND -Doctorate of Philosophy in Agronomy (Soil Science): Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Mississippi State University, USA, (May 1994). -Master of Science in Agronomy (Soil Science): Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, New Mexico State University, USA (December 1988). -Bachelor of Science (Soil Science): Soil Science Department, California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly-SLO), San Luis Obispo, USA (December 1984). ROFESSIONAL WORK EXPERIENCES -Associate Professor (September 2003 - present): Soil Science Department, Islamic Azad University, Darab Branch, Darab, Iran. -Chancelor of Research and Technology (July 2009-February 2012): Islamic Azad University, Darab Branch, Darab, Iran.
Sustainable soil management strategies, particularly in relation with global climate change and drought resistant soils ; Haloculture: Sustainable utilization of highly saline soil and water resources; Biochar for biological, physical and chemical amelior
fkhorsandi@gmail.com
Associate Professor at the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science, University of Bari, Italy
Dr Cataldo Pulvento joined University of Bari in 2021; previously, from in 2005 to March 2021,he has been researcher at-Italian National Council of Research (CNR). He holds a Ph.D. in Mediterranean Agronomy at University of Bari in 2011. His research is focused on herbaceous crops with particular focus on quinoa and amaranth, crop tolerance to abiotic stresses, soil-water plant interactions, best agronomic practices. Since 2014 he cooperates with FAO as quinoa expert for technical cooperation projects in central Asia and Arab Countries. He studied the use of deficit irrigation with saline water within several international research project like Protein2Food, Swup-Med and Trustfarm (ongoing).
quinoa and amaranth; crop tolerance to abiotic stresses; soil-water plant interactions; best agronomic practices
cataldo.pulvento@uniba.it
Zeinab has Ph.D. Tarbiat Modares University, Watershed Management Engineering and Sciences 2018, Iran. She was Guest Researcher at Wageningen University and Research, November 2016-May 2017, Netherlands. She obtained a M.Sc. Tarbiat Modares University, Watershed Management Engineering 2013, Iran and B.Sc. Shahid Chamran University, Rangeland and Watershed Management 2010, Iran
Watershed Health Assessment; Geologic and Geomorphic Processes; Soil and Water Conservation; Soil Amendment Application; Watershed Management Research
z.hazbavi@uma.ac.ir
Director of Water-Energy-Climate Experts Network (WECEN), France,
Senior Expert in Water-Energy-Climate
Director of Water-Energy-Climate Experts Network (WECEN), France. He is senior consultant, advisor and evaluator for several international institutions (European Commission, PRIMA Foundation, the Mediterranean Water Institute, FAO, UN-ESCWA, EU-GCC Clean Energy Technology Network, KAS-REMENA, Ocean Oasis, the Palestinian-Dutch Academic Cooperation Program on Water “PADUCO”, COMSTECH Scientific Advisory Council (COMSTECH-SAC), the EMME-CCI Task Force on Water Resources led by the Cyprus Institute, the International Desalination Association as member of its R&D committee and the European Desalination Society where he was elected as a board member). He has been the R&D Director at the Middle East Desalination Research Center, Oman (2015-2020), in charge of research programs/ projects on sustainable desalination technologies, renewable energies for desalination, water-energy-food nexus, climate change, and science diplomacy. He launched the USD 700.000 Prize Oman Humanitarian Desalination Challenge with his colleagues in MEDRC on 2018 and took part of its judging committee panel as well as its parallel research pathway panel. He has been projects manager at the Euro-Mediterranean Information System on know-how in the Water sector (EMWIS), France (2004-2015). Earlier he was research at the Global Change Unit, University of Valencia (Spain), and he is still a Visiting researcher. He got MSc & PhD degrees in Earth Sciences (Physics) from the University of Valencia, Spain. He also got a Diploma in Enterprises Management & Strategy from SKEMA Business School, France. He is Co-founder and Secretary General of Arab World Association of Young Scientists and member of the Society for the Advancement of Science and Technology in the Arab World (SASTA), and alumni of the Global Young Academy (GYA). He organized and launched an important number of scientific events and networks. He was nominated in 2011 by the French Ministry of High Education & Research as representative at the Intergovernmental framework for EU Cooperation in Science & Technology (TN1301). He was also c
sustainability, climate change impact and management of natural resources (water, energy, food, etc.), desalination technologies, water-energy-food nexus and agriculture.
jauad.elkharraz@gmail.com
Bas Bruning did a bachelor biology and a master in ecology. After those studies, he went on to do a Ph.D on the effect of salinity on symbiotic nitrogen fixation in legumes. Since then, he has been working on salinity effects on crop plants in many different countries, helping farmers to improve their yields. The Salt Doctors: The Salt Doctors is a social enterprise focused on improving crop yields under saline conditions. We help farmers that suffer from salinity, either in their soils, irrigation water or both, all over the world. Through the introduction of salt tolerant crop varieties and adapted farming and irrigation techniques, we have been able to increase yields by a minimum of 30-40%.
Salinity, Biosaline agriculture, crop tolerance to salinity
bas@thesaltdoctors.com
Researcher & Lecturer
International Water Research Institute (IWRI), Mohammed VI Polytechnique University, Morocco
With agronomic engineering background and After completing his PhD in water & environment, he gained international experience in sustainability management and R&D while serving world-class agri-business corporations in North-West Africa, Southern Europe, and in the UK. Youssef worked as international consultant in drought impacts on water and crops for international organizations. As part of IWRI at the UM6P, he is in charge of education, research and innovation in Climate Change Impacts on water and crops with a particular interest in how to make food and water systems more efficient and sustainable under uncertain future.
Climate change impacts on crops and water, Climate-Smart Agriculture
Youssef.BROUZIYNE@um6p.ma
Full Professor at Department of Agricultural Structures and Irrigation in Çukurova University, Turkey
Prof. Dr. S. Metin Sezen has been working as a Full Professor at Department of Agricultural Structures and Irrigation in Çukurova University since 2018. He has worked on land and water resources management in agriculture, irrigation and water resources development and agricultural systems analysis and modelling more than 30 years of experience. He has BSc, MSc and PhD in agricultural structures and irrigation (Çukurova University, Turkey). He served as an Associate Professor in Soil and Water Resources Tarsus Research Institute (2006-2011) and Directorate of Horticultural Research Station, Soil and Water Resources Location (2011 -2015) in the department of water management. After these positions, he started his career in Çukurova University in 2015. He was coordinator and collaborator of several national and international projects (TUBITAK, TAGEM and European Union projects). He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed international journals, and book chapters in the field of his expertise.
Agricultural Systems Analysis and Modelling; Land and Water Resources Management in Agriculture; Irrigation and Water Resources Development; Precision Agriculture
smsezen@hotmail.com
Research & Education Fellow at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University-African Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute in Laayoune, Morocco
Abdelaziz Nilahyane is currently working as a Research & Education Fellow at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University-African Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute in Laayoune. He obtained his agronomic engineering degree (M.S in Agronomy, plant pathology) from Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine in Morocco and his Ph. D. in Agronomy from Department of Plant Sciences at University of Wyoming, USA. He worked as a Forage Research Assistant at the same University and worked as Postdoctoral Research Associate at Montana State University and New Mexico State University, USA. He has a passion for teaching and research. Currently, he is teaching Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition at post graduate level of UM6P-ESAFE school. His main research interests focus on irrigation, fertilization, abiotic stress, crop physiology, crop modeling and quality of forage crops. He has published several peer-reviewed research articles about agronomy and crop science, irrigation, fertilization and crop modeling. He also led and contributed in several funded research projects and he has supervised postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students and agricultural technicians.
Irrigation, fertilization, abiotic stress, crop physiology, crop modeling, quality of forage crops
abdelaziz.nilahyane@um6p.ma
Senior Scientist in Remote Sensing and Drone Technology, International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, UAE
Dr. Ali Elbattay is Senior Scientist in Remote Sensing and Drone Technology. He was concurrently, until 2020, the Chief Innovation Officer at the first company specializing in drone solutions in Dubai – Falcon Eye Drones. He joined ICBA in September 2018. Prior to that, he held various academic positions at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia, and the Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain where he was promoted to the Academic Rank of Associate Professor - Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics in 2017. He is author and co-author of more than 50 publications and recipient of several international awards, including for the best scientific paper at the 4th IGGC conference in 2015 and for the spatially-enabled mobile application at the GISWORX conference in 2014. He supervised over 35 students (Ph.D., M.Sc. and B.Sc.) and managed a number of international research grants. In 2015, he initiated the project titled “Drones for Geomatics – Capacity-Building Initiative by the Arabian Gulf University”. In March 2017, he was the project leader for the first international course and workshop titled “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry” in Dubai. Dr. Ali Elbattay is the co-chairperson of "Drones Synergies", the aspiring biggest international conference and capacity-building event in the Gulf region dedicated to drones and artificial intelligence, geomatics and smart agriculture, etc. He holds a Ph.D. in remote sensing specialization from the University of Quebec, Canada.
Remote sensing, soil salinity, drones
a.elbattay@biosaline.org.ae
Professor at Faculty of Sciences and Techniques (FST) Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech, Morocco
Ghoulam Cherki is a Moroccan professor at the Faculty of Sciences and Techniques (FST) Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech and an affiliate professor at Agrobiosciences Program of University Mohammed VI Polytechnics. He got his PhD in 2001 in agro-physiology of salinity stress in plants. He is teaching plant protection, soil science, plant nutrition and biofertilization, agro-physiology of plant abiotic stresses. Since 2005, he is a member of the Unit of Biotechnology and Symbiosis Agrophysiology. His research activity is carried on the selection of the most performing crops genotypes under abiotic stresses for exploitation and production in the soils affected by these constraints. It focuses mainly on nitrogen fixing legume-rhizobia symbiosis and its interactions with the more prevailing abiotic stresses in Mediterranean basin as drought, salinity and phosphorus deficiency. His research aims the exploitation of genetic variability in legume species for selecting more performing symbiosis for BNF. He is also interested in the assessment of the benefit of legume-rhizobia symbiosis to the associated crops in rotation or in intercropping systems. Recently, his research activity focuses on the PGPR effect of rhizobia and other Phosphorus Solubilising Bacteria (PSB) as biofertilizers and their role for increasing the efficiency of phosphorus fertilizers. Pr. Ghoulam C. coordinated more than 10 research projects and supervised more than 12 PhD thesis and many Master memories. He collaborated on these topics with many partners from Europe, Africa and America.
abiotic stress; salinity ; soil science; plant nutrition and biofertilization; agro-physiology
Ghoulam.CHERKI@um6p.ma
Professor of higher education at Mohammed V University, Faculty of Sciences, Rabat, Morocco.
Lahsen khabar, state doctor in mycology. Professor of higher education at Mohammed V University, Faculty of Sciences, Rabat, Morocco. Director of the "Mycologie Forestière et Trufficulture" "MycoTruf" research team. Under the theme "Desert truffles and truffles : Control of controlled mycorrhization for better production and fight against desertification in semi-arid and arid areas" Teacher of forest mycology and truffle culture at the Faculty of Science of Rabat. Member of the Mycology commission of the OPTIMA group (Organization for the Phyto-Taxonomic Investigation of the Mediterranean Area). Member of the Mediterranean network “Mycoludesme”. Desert truffle investigation and research network entitled: "MYCOLUDESME: DESERT TRUFFLES" Member of the “Terfess” network. Network set up during the "First Symposium on hypogeal fungi of the Mediterranean basin" "HYPOGES 1" Member of the "TAUESG" Group (Tuber Aestivum / Uncinatum Européen Scientifique Group). Permanent member of the organization and scientific committees of IWEMMs (International WorKshop on Edible Mycorrhizal Mushrooms) Founder and President of the Moroccan Association for the Protection of Terfess and Other Edible Mushrooms "TerfAss" Organizer and President of several congresses: Hypoge 1 (2004), IWEMM6 (2011) and Hypoge 2 (2014). Publisher of books and Chapters in books "Terfess and truffles in Morocco : Biodiversity and Valorization". European University Publishing (EUE), December 2016, 267 p. Desert truffles ; Chapter 10 : distribution in North Africa ”. In: Kagan-Zur V, Roth-Bejerano N, Sitrit Y, Morte A (eds) Desert Truffles. Soil Biology, vol.38.Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2014. p. 143-158. "Truffle cultivation in Morocco : current state of research and perspectives". In : The culture of the truffle in the world : proceedings of the conference Brive la Gaillarde February 2, 2007. Editions B. REYNAL, 2008; p. 135-150 As well as the publication of several scientific articles on Terfess and truffles.
Truffles, Desert truffles, Desertifications, Mycorrhization, Trufficulture, Terfess, Forest mycology.
l.khabar@um5r.ac.ma
Senior Researcher, Professor, Director of the Research Lab. Valorization of Non-Conventional Waters at INRGREF, Tunisia
He has extensive experience in the coordination and management of R&D projects in the field of saline water and treated wastewater use in agriculture. He has coordinated several projects at national, bilateral and multilateral levels. He has published more than fifty articles in national and international journals and holds two national patents. He has published several documents including guidelines for irrigation with salt water. He has reviewed several articles for national and international journals. He has supervised several students: about ten doctoral theses, about twenty master's degrees and about thirty end-of-study projects and has participated as rapporteurs and examiners in several thesis and master's juries. He has given courses, provided training, many of them for Arab and French-speaking engineers. He has carried out several consultations for Tunisian and international consulting firms and organizations. He has more than a hundred papers presented in national and international seminars. He has organized and been invited to several scientific events at the national and international levels. He has several activities in the several Tunisian commissions.
saline water and treated wastewater use in agriculture, salinity
hachicha8@gmail.com
Researcher at the Institute for Environmental Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (IVM-VU), Netherland
Katarzyna (Kate) Negacz is a researcher at the Institute for Environmental Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (IVM-VU) working on food systems and biodiversity governance. Her research focuses on the potential of saline degraded lands for sustainable food production and international biodiversity governance. Dr Negacz has been actively involved in various salinity-related activities including the Interreg North Sea SalFar Project and organization of the Saline Futures Conference, Leeuwarden, in 2019. Currently, Katarzyna is a coordinator of the SALAD project (Saline Agriculture as a Strategy to Adapt to Climate Change) which involves 11 partner institutions from six countries in Europe and Africa. It addresses the research area of food security under climate change through saline agriculture, aligning vision, research, and practice among European and African countries focusing on saline agriculture upscaling. She also serves as a vice-chair of FAO INSAS.
potential of saline degraded lands for sustainable food production and international biodiversity governance.
k.e.negacz@vu.nl
Professor at Department of Natural Resources & Environment, Hassan II Institute of Agronomy & Veterinary (IAV), Morocco
Dr. Mohamed Chikhaoui is in Charge of the Direction of Scientific Research and Postgraduate Studies at Hassan II Institute of Agronomy & Veterinary (IAV) and he is a professor at Department of Natural Resources & Environment. He is currently Vice-President of the Moroccan Association of Soil Sciences (AMSSol). He completed a B.Sc. in agriculture and a M.Sc. in soil science from IAV and a Ph.D. in remote sensing from Sherbrooke University (Canada). Before joining IAV, he worked as Postdoctoral Fellow at Brace centre for Water Resources Management at McGill University (Canada). At Brace, he managed also research projects related to agricultural water management, hydrologic modeling and impact of climate change on water resources. His research spans from field experimentation to computer modeling. Prof. Chikhaoui is interested in monitoring hydrology, soil and water quality. He utilizes many Agricultural Resource Management models to investigate the hydrological process and environmental quality, as well as crop yield, under various management practices and climate scenarios in agricultural watersheds. His research activities include also remote sensing, GIS and geospatial analysis for environmental applications such as desertification, environmental monitoring, soil salinity mapping and precision agriculture. He garnered funding for large scale, multidisciplinary, national and international soil, water, environmental, and climate change projects. Has supervised over 50 graduate and PhD students, published over 40 papers, and invited to deliver many talks and seminars to various scientific and professional bodies.
Soil physics/soil hydrology, Soil survey and land evaluation using remote sensing and GIS technologies, Climate Change impact on water resources availability and adaptation, Improving water productivity and water use efficiency, Agricultural water managem
mchikhaoui@gmail.com
Program Lead, Sustainable Natural Resources Management, and a Principal Scientist in hydrology at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) in Dubai, UAE
Dr. Khalil Ammar has a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Utah State University, USA, and MSc in Water Resources Management from IHE-Delft, Institute of Water Education, the Netherlands, and BSc in Civil Engineering from An-Najah National University, Palestine. Dr. Ammar has 24 years of experience in water resources management. He is working as Program Lead, Sustainable Natural Resources Management, and a Principal Scientist in hydrology at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) in Dubai. Since he joined ICBA in the year 2009, he has led several research for development works such as: 1) “Collaboration Program Euphrates and Tigris”, a five-years Sida funded program to support collaboration between the riparian countries of the Euphrates and Tigris basin. The program helped in providing a scientific platform to exchange knowledge and understanding about important water issues and the way forward to improve water management and agricultural water productivity in the basin; 2) United Arab Emirates Agricultural Strategy which included matching the best crops to be grown in different land and water zones according to groundwater quantity and quality and soil suitability; 3) United Arab Emirates Water Conservation Strategy”; 4) Developing Federal Environmental Standards to Manage Discharges to the Marine from Desalination Plants” for the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, United Arab Emirates; and 5) Oman Salinity Strategy. His contribution to different national strategies and plans helped the decision-makers take the right decisions that brought change in water and agricultural sectors. Before joining ICBA, he worked for the Palestinian Water Authority as Head of Planning Department where he contributed to several national and sectoral plans that helped the establishment of a reliable water sector in Palestine.
Natural resources management; hydrology; irrigation; water productivity
kaa@biosaline.org.ae
Head of Agronomy and Horticulture Dep., National Salinity Research Center, Iran
Scientific Board Member of National Salinity Research Center in Yazd- Iran. She obtained Ph.D of Crop physiology from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran (2006-2011). She published more than 40 journal articles and more than 15 book chapters in addition to more than 50 conference presentations
Halophytes as cash crops; Alternative crops for salt-affected area
salehimasomeh@gmail.com
Research scientist and head of Soil-Water-Plant laboratory at National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA), Morocco
Jamal Hallam is a research scientist and head of Soil-Water-Plant laboratory at National Institute of Agricultural Research of Morocco (INRA), Regional Center for Agricultural Research of Agadir since 2011. During his work at INRA he left, from 2016 to 2019, to pursue a Ph.D programme in Environmental Science (Soil Hydrology and Ecology applied to agriculture), at University of York, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, which was funded by the Islamic Development Bank under the Merit Scholarship Scheme. He has an Engineer diploma in Soil and Water Management (IAV HASSAN II, Morocco) and previously, 2009-2011, worked as head of “Irrigation Systems Design Department” and site foreman at TISSI-LAND Company for irrigation and drip system equipment then as an Irrigation Systems Design Manager and site foreman at Irriconcept Company, Ait Melloul, Morocco. His previous R&D works first switched between pedology, fertility, erosion, and salinity mappings of fragile and marginal environments (Tamanar, El Kelaa Sraghna, Tata and Laayoune regions) then spanned to investigate rhizosphere-biology-salinity-soil hydraulic function interactions. He has produced several publications in peer-reviewed international journals and numerous publications in journals and international conferences. He is a member of the British Society of Soil Science and a reviewer for international journals (e.g Geoderma). His recent and current research projects study 1) soil salinity dynamics under buried (nano-tube) and drip irrigation and its impact on the management of alternative crops in fragile areas, 2) role of mycorrhizal fungi in the tolerance of the argan tree (Argania spinosa) to water and salt stress 3) the potential of argan orchards and forests and their ecosystems to sequester carbon 4) and establishment of the CO2 balance of the argan sector.
soil salinity dynamics; irrigation; alternative crops; mycorrhizal fungi, soil health, soil fertility, salinity
jamal.hallam@gmail.com
Senior scientist, African Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute (ASARI), Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Morocco
Devkota is a Senior Scientist of Biosaline Agriculture in Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, African Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute in Laayoune, Morocco. Dr. Devkota has about 20 years of working experience in agronomic research from South-, East- and Central-Asia, and West Africa. Prior to the current position, he was Agronomist and Water Management specialist in CGIR centers (AfricaRice Center, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and Maize and wheat improvement center (CIMMYT)). He has a Ph.D. in Agronomy (Salt and Water management) from the University of Bonn, Germany. He has a good publication record and has published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and several book chapters and conference papers. Also, he has good expertise in crop simulation modeling, sustainability analysis, and ICT in agriculture.
crop simulation modeling; sustainability analysis,; ICT in agriculture.
Krishna.DEVKOTA@um6p.ma
Assistant Professor of Biology at Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco
Dr. Abdelghani CHAKHCHAR is Assistant Professor of Biology at Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco. He obtained his Dctorate in Plant Biotechnology (2015) from Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech. He is the author or coauthor of several papers in international refereed journals and and numerous conference contributions. His main research interests include Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Plant Genetics, Biotic and Abiotic Stresses, Plant Biotechnology and Plant Biodiversity.
Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Plant Genetics, Biotic and Abiotic Stresses, Plant Biotechnology and Plant Biodiversity.
chakhchar.ckr@gmail.com
Dr. Giulia Atzori, PhD in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Florence, Italy, studying seawater as an alternative water source for irrigation in agriculture. During her PhD and her post doc research, she studied glycophytes and halophytes assessing different thresholds of salinity tolerance and analyzing the edible product nutritive characteristics in response to the seawater stress. Her major findings revealed that for the majority of the tested species mild salinity stress led to the accumulation of ions and enhanced the production of antioxidant compounds, thus enriching the final product.
Salinity, salt tolerance, antioxidant coumpounds
giulia.atzori@unifi.it
Arid Land Research Center, Totttori University, Japan,
Institute of Botany, ANAS, Baku, Azerbaijan
Soil and water management, salt-affected soils, abiotic stresses, plant allometry, soil-plant relation, irrigation and water quality, agricultural pollution
amrakh03@yahoo.com
Researcher, Julius Kühn-Institut, Institute for Plant Protection in Horticulture and Forests, Braunschweig, Germany
Juan Pablo Rodriguez is a researcher at the Julius Kühn-Institut, Institute for Plant Protection in Horticulture and Forests, Braunschweig, Germany. He is working on assessment and implementataion of smart-methodologies and technologies in vegetable crop protection. Previously, he has been working on Biosaline Agriculture, Arid Special Agricultural Desert and Mountain Systems for Africa, Middle East and Latin America countries. Further is an ad-hoc peer- reviewer at the Journal of Agriculture Science (Cambridge), Planta, Frontiers in Plant Science. As a researcher, he has been working for four years at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, Dubai, UAE. He worked on the Quinoa Breeding and Native Forages at the Crop Diversification and Genetics Section. Further, he has experience on diversification and improvement local farm crops based on native crops tolerant to salinity, drought, heat and cold environments with experiences in Sierra Leone, Morocco, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Bolivia, Peru and Denmark. Before joining the center, he worked at the Korea International Cooperation Agency in Bolivia, and as a researcher in Bolivia, France, Denmark, Germany, and Serbia. He holds a PhD in Crop Science from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and two masters of sciences in Rural Development (IMRD) from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, and in Science, Biology, Geosciences, Agroresources and Environment from SupAgro, France, Montpellier, and is an Agronomist from UMSA, Facultad de Agronomía, La Paz, Bolivia.
Diversification and improvement of local farm crops based on native crops tolerant to salinity, drought, heat and cold environments
jprodriguezcalle@yahoo.fr
Assistant Professor, Department of Agronomy, MNS, University of Agriculture Multan, Pakistan.
Currently working as Assistant Professor (Since 26/12/2017) in Department of Agronomy, M NS University of Agriculture Multan. Currently working as as Supervisors of Agri interns (Since 01/04/2021) working in Kror Lal Esan under ADP funded project Enhancing productivity in 10 low producing tehsils through deployment of fresh Agri Scientists at farm level. He worked as a Research Associate (RA) in Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, from July 26th, 2011 to June 30th 2014 in an EFS funded project entitled “Demonstration of production technology of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) as a new climate proof grain crop”. He worked as Quinoa Consultant at JK Agriculture Farms (PVT) Faisalabad (http://jkagriculturefarms.com) from November 20th, 2013 to April 15th 2014.
Crop physiology, salinity stress, quinoa
sahu.shehdi@yahoo.com
Principal Scientist (Soil Sci.), ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Regional Research Station, Lucknow 226002 (UP) India
Dr. Sanjay Arora, did his Ph.D. in Soil Science from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India and is presently working as Principal Scientist (Soil Science) at Regional Research Station of ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Lucknow (UP), India. Made significant contributions in management of saline and sodic inland and coastal soils, bio-saline agriculture and has developed innovative microbial approach for bio-remediation of salt affected soils for enhancing crop productivity by mitigation of salt stress. Also, involved in agro-forestry and multi-purpose tree based restoration of degraded salty lands. He has developed decision support systems for chemical reclamation of sodic soils He has modified protocol for Gypsum requirement and developed GypKIT for field level estimation of gypsum requirement for sodic soil reclamation. Active member of various academic and professional societies/associations and authored 148 peer-reviewed research papers and technical articles and edited 14 books, guided 12 M.Sc. students and a doctorate research. Editorial board member of many peer-review soil science/water management journals of repute.
Soils sodicity, soil salinity, land degradation, land restoration, gypsum
sanjay.arora@icar.gov.in
Senior Scientist and Head, Land and Water Management Research Group, of Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM), Calicut, India
Dr. U Surendran, is a Senior Scientist and Head, Land and Water Management Research Group, of Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM), having more than fifteen years of professional research experience in agricultural water management, Precision Farming with drip fertigation, crop simulation modelling, nutrient budgeting, salinity management and soil fertility management as main components. He has developed irrigation requirement package for crops such as coconut, pepper, arecanut and vegetables and few of them has been accepted as a technology by Kerala Agricultural University for dissemination to farmers. Currently he is focusing on climate change impact assessment on agricultural crops, and identifying the best management practices for improving the crop productivity and profitability to the farmers. He has more than 70 peer reviewed research articles and 5 Books with a Scopus h-index of 12. Currently serves as handling Editor in Scientific Reports- Nature Publishing Group and Associate Editor / Editorial Board member in journals like agricultural water management, Journal of Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences, International Journal of Soil and Water Conservation and also reviewer of different scientific journals of Elsevier, Springer, Taylor and Francis, Nature Publishing group. Besides, he has a good know- how and field experience on drought management, problem soil management micro irrigations systems and has closely monitored about 4000 acres (for sugarcane, Coconut, vegetables etc) with drip, sprinkler and low cost drip irrigation techniques, starting from design, lay out, fertigation scheduling and maintenance of the system in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Best management practices, crop production, precision farming, fertigation, irrigation
u.surendran@gmail.com
Professor of Plant Physiology and Biotechnology at the Department of Biology at Hassan II University, Faculty of Science and Techniques - Mohammedia, Morocco,
Affiliate professor at the Department of Biology at Cadi Ayyad University, Faculty of Science Semlalia, Marrakesh, Morocco
Evolution of date palm tolerance to salinity stress under arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and compost application
Drought and salt stresses, plant disease, plant nutrition, plant tolerance mechanisms to biotic and abiotic stress, soil arbuscular mycorrhizal infectivity, and soil fertility
Professor of Plant Physiology and Biotechnology at the Department of Biology at Hassan II University, Faculty of Science and Techniques - Mohammedia, Morocco, and affiliate professor at the Department of Biology at Cadi Ayyad University, Faculty of Scienc
mohamed.aitelmokhtar@gmail.com
Sessions
S2. The role of biosaline agriculture in achieving food security under marginal environments
S3. Contribution of international and national agencies in biosaline agriculture development
S4. Crop responses to salinity and water stress
S5. Best cropping practices to cope with salinity stress
S6. Breeding, Introduction and upscaling of new salt tolerant crops
S7. Salinity mapping and characterization
S8. Soil amendment, fertilization and microbe’s association under salinity conditions
S9. Development of new crop value chain
S10. Saline water management
S11. Biosaline agriculture: socio-economic and policy aspects
S12. Genetic improvement of Food crops under saline environments.
SALAD. Upscaling Food Production on Salt-degraded Lands: Cooperation and Knowledge Exchange between Mediterranean and North Sea Regions
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- Title
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- Conclusions
- (Acknowledgements)
- References
Short paper should be prepared in MS Word or any other word processor and should be converted to PDF format before submission. The publication format will be PDF. The manuscript should be at least 2 pages (incl. figures, tables, and references) and should not exceed 4 pages.
Manuscript Preparation
The short papers must be prepared in MS Word using the Environmental Sciences Proceedings template (see below) and should be converted to PDF format before submission. The manuscript should have a maximum of 4 pages (incl. figures, tables and references). Carefully read the rules outlined in the Instructions for Authors on the journal website and ensure that your manuscript submission adheres to these guidelines.
Presentation Slides
Authors are encouraged to prepare a presentation in PowerPoint or similar software, to be displayed online along with the manuscript. Slides, if available, will be displayed directly in the website using the proprietary slides viewer at Sciforum.net. Slides can be prepared in exactly the same way as for any traditional conference where research results can be presented. Slides should be converted to PDF format before submission so that we can easily and automatically process them for online display.
Video Presentations
Authors are also encouraged to submit video presentations. This is an unique way of presenting your paper and discussing it with peers from all over the world. Video should be no longer than 3 minutes and prepared with one of the following formats: .mp4, MPEG, wmv (max size: 250Mb). It should be submitted with the short paper before 15th February 2022.
Presentation of Posters
Authors that wish to present only a poster, i.e., without a proceedings paper, can do so in poster session. Posters will be available on the conference website during and after the event. Similarly to papers presented at the conference, participants will be able to ask questions and make comments about the posters. Posters that are submitted without a paper will not be included in the proceedings of the conference.
Submission of Manuscripts
Submission: Manuscripts should be submitted online at LAFOBA2.sciforum.net by registering and logging in to this website.
Accepted File Formats
MS Word: Manuscript prepared in MS Word must be converted into a single file before submission. When preparing manuscripts in MS Word, the Second International Laayoune Forum on Biosaline Agriculture Word template file (see download below) must be used. Please do not insert any graphics (schemes, figures, etc.) into a movable frame which can superimpose the text and make layout very difficult.
Environmental Sciences Proceedings template
Potential Conflicts of Interest
It is the authors’ responsibility to identify and declare any personal circumstances or interests that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of clinical research. If there is no conflict, please state here “The authors declare no conflict of interest”. This should be conveyed in a separate “Conflict of Interest” statement preceding the “Acknowledgments” and “References” sections at the end of the manuscript. Financial support for the study must be fully disclosed under the “Acknowledgments” section.
Copyright
MDPI, the publisher of the Sciforum.net platform, is an open access publisher. We believe that authors should retain the copyright to their scholarly works. Hence, by submitting a Communication paper to this conference, you retain the copyright of your paper, but you grant MDPI the non-exclusive right to publish this paper online on the Sciforum.net platform. This means you can easily submit your paper to any scientific journal at a later stage and transfer the copyright to its publisher (if required by that publisher).
List of Authors (302)
Event Awards
To acknowledge the support of the conference’s esteemed authors and recognize their outstanding scientific accomplishments, we are pleased to offer awards to the 3 best papers (oral and poster) by fully covering the publication fees in Plants journal.
The Awards
Number of Awards Available: 3
The Best Paper Award will be presented to honor the paper that is judged to make the most significant contribution to the conference.Terms and Conditions:
Only full papers submitted to LAFOBA2 will be considered. Papers will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Originality/novelty of the paper;
- Significance of content;
- Scientific soundness;
- Interest to the readers;
- English language and style.
Evaluation
- Each Evaluation Committee member will assess each entry in terms of the criteria outlined above;
- Total scores for each presentation will be ranked, from highest to lowest;
- If two or more authors get the same score, further evaluation will be carried out;
- All decisions made by the Evaluation Committee are final.
Sponsors and Partners
For information regarding sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, please click here.
Organizers
Co-organizers
Hosts
Silver Sponsors
Sponsors
Conference program
The conference draft program can be found in the link below:
