Call for Proposals | Soil Salinity Mitigation and Adaptation Projects in the Eurasian region
Salinity is a major problem affecting crop production all over the world, with about 20% of cultivated land and 33% of irrigated land being salt-affected and degraded in the world. Soil salinity is a multifactorial phenomenon that can have a natural origin caused by raise of sea level or marine intrusion, and an anthropogenic origin due to agricultural intensification, use of low-quality irrigation water or excessive application of mineral fertilizers. This process can be accentuated by climate change and causes a reduction in crop yields, affecting small farmers and rural communities more acutely, who have fewer means for its minimization or adaptation. In Eurasia, salt-affected soils occur in most countries and occupy an estimated area of about 242 million hectares, putting at risk food security and the achievement of the 2030 sustainable agenda in the region.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Lomonosov Moscow State University published a Handbook for saline soil management in 2018, building on the teaching materials and results of the training workshop on innovative methods of amelioration and use of salt-affected soils, held in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on September 2017. This workshop was conducted within the framework of the Implementation Plan of the Eurasian Soil Partnership (EASP), a sub-regional affiliation of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP). The next step in the operationalization of the EASP Implementation Plan is to initiate the Activity 1.4.1. Support of small projects aimed at mitigation of or adaptation to soil salinity through application of sustainable soil management (SSM) practices.
The FAO’s Global Soil Partnership and the Eurasian Soil Partnership (EASP), in collaboration with the Eurasian Center for Food Security (ECFS), are pleased to announce a call for short-term projects aimed at mitigation of or adaptation to soil salinity through the application of sustainable soil management practices.
The objective of this initiative is to establish pilot projects in the field in Central Asian countries to test the viability and usefulness of different soil management practices for the adaptation or mitigation of soil salinity in a sustainable manner, with a duration not exceeding 12 months.
Applications will be accepted from 16th September to 31st October 2019.