TECHNOLOGIES
SALAM-MED will identify, test and validate nature-based practical solutions to enhance the resilience of endangered MED dryland socio-ecological systems or to restore degraded ecosystems in arid and hyper-arid lands.
A.V.M
Adaptive Vegetation Management
Partners involved:
Polytechnic University of Valencia; Desertification Research Center of the University of Sassari; Academy of Athens; University of Cadi Ayyad; National Research Council of Italy
Managing agro-silvopastoral systems for ecosystem services provisioning is an effective way to reverse land and water degradation in MED drylands. Within SALAM-MED, AVM will establish which vegetation treatments optimize soil and water-related ecosystem services by modifying the hydrological cycle (patch to catchment scales). Pilot areas will include cork oak wooded grasslands (Sardinia, Italy), argan systems (Morocco), olive groves (Greece), and holm oak and Aleppo pine (Spain). Site-specific data will feed the C.A.F.E. (Carbon, Aqua, Fire & Eco-resilience) simulation tool to design sustainable forest management schemes that address ecosystem processes as well as the modulating factors to maximize ecosystem services provision. C.A.F.E. is an innovative technology focused on ecosystem services management to address soil and water degradation by designing the biological and physical structure of the vegetation that optimizes carbon sequestration and protection, water provisioning, fire risk and eco-resilience, among other ES.
INT-OLIVE
Integrated Olive Orchard Management
Partners involved:
Academy of Athens; National Research Council of Italy
To enhance olive grove water retention and mitigate soil degradation, management practices such as reduced tillage/no-tillage and cover crops will be assessed in the hilly slopes of Messinia, Greece. Soil surveys will determine soil physical, chemical and biological properties to assess soil quality and water retention improvements. Field assessments will integrate Internet of Things with modelling tools (WRF and WRF-Hydro models) to better support decision-making at farm and policy levels for the identification of effective water-based practical and policy solutions, structurally coupled with increased resilience and recovery of degraded land. Integrating these data with climate and water management modelling SALAM-MED will provide decision support to future climate variables and will be also downscaled to identify the effects of climate change in local temperature, precipitation and evapotranspiration.
INT-OLIVE
Integrated Olive Orchard Management
Partners involved:
Academy of Athens; National Research Council of Italy
INNOGRAZ
Innovative technologies to improve grazing management and preserve ecosystem services in degraded grazed areas in MED agroforestry
Partners involved:
University of Florence; Desertification Research Center of the University of Sassari; University of Cadi Ayyad
Within SALAM-MED, the knowledge of animal (goats in Morocco and cattle in Sardinia) grazing behaviour in degraded MED drylands will be enhanced to provide ground evidence supporting the practical design of solutions for resilient and sustainable grazing.
Rotational grazing is a potential climate-smart method for sequestering SOC, enhancing soil health, ensuring uniform animal distribution and forage biomass intake, especially if coupled with assessment of the stocking rate capacity.
SALAM-MED will use Virtual Fencing technology (pilot area: Sardinia) and GPS collars (pilot areas: Morocco and Sardinia) to track/manage animal movements without the setting of physical fences, as well as to establish time and extent of grazing intensity, by applying a crop model simulating grass growth requiring few input data and forced by high resolution multispectral remote sensing indices.
SWRT
Water Harvesting & Subsurface Water Retention Technology
Partners involved:
University of Florence, Institut des Régions Arides, University of Cadi Ayyad; National Research Council of Italy
The argan forest plays vital roles in combating desertification in Morocco, by preventing the encroachment and expansion of sand dunes, while offering fundamental economic opportunities, particularly for women. The argan ecosystem is under pressure from argan oil export growth, droughts, soil erosion and goat overgrazing, which have led to a 50% reduction in the forest area by the end of the 20th century. SALAM-MED will combine rainwater harvesting with SWRT to preserve soil water with impermeable, biodegradable plastics placed on the soil surface at the bottom of the micro-basin water harvesting structures, preventing water percolation and nutrient leaching.
SWRT
Water Harvesting & Subsurface Water Retention Technology
Partners involved:
University of Florence, Institut des Régions Arides, University of Cadi Ayyad; National Research Council of Italy
MCDP
Microbial Consortia for improved Dryland Productivity
Partners involved:
Desertification Research Center of the University of Sassari; National Research Council of Italy
SALAM-MED research teams will select and test microorganisms beneficial to plants and soil biodiversity.
Field trials and laboratory experiments will identify the most effective microbial-based biotechnological solutions with positive effects on soil water retention, nutrient content and availability, soil carbon, resistance to pathogens and plant growth in agroforestry systems.
Protocols for local production of microbial inoculants will be developed, to support business opportunities and capacity development.
MAR
Managed Aquifer Recharge
Partners involved:
University of Florence, Institut des Régions Arides
During SALAM-MED timeframe, how Experimental Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) can be combined with other sustainable land and water management technologies at a catchment scale in similar agro-ecosystems will be investigated, addressing knowledge gaps on MAR out-scalability. The pilot area will be the watershed wadi Koutine, an arid area (279 km2) located in Jeffara region (southeastern Tunisia). Capitalizing on existing MAR infrastructures, which have been installed in the watershed to recharge the aquifers, SALAM-MED will address knowledge gaps on MAR out-scalability, and on its possible impacts on agricultural cropping patterns.
MAR
Managed Aquifer Recharge
Partners involved:
University of Florence, Institut des Régions Arides
WWH
Wadi basin Water Harvesting
Partners involved:
University of Florence, Institut des Régions Arides, Desert Research Center, International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies
Wadi basins are typical of arid or semiarid regions, where short intense rains generate flash floods, whose water can be stored by shaping the wadi stream bed into a series of levelled terraces supported by spaced dikes. These terraces slow the water flow and increase infiltration.
Soil and hydrological characterization of the wadi Kharrouba (Egypt) will be used to provide evidence on the wadi hydrology and the potential for agricultural exploitation.