Launch of the 2nd part of phase III of the NWSAS project « Concerted management of North-Western Sahara Aquifer System »

The Executive Secretariat of the OSS has announced the launch of the second Part of the third Phase of
the NWSAS project for a «Concerted management of the Northern Sahara Aquifer System, shared by
the three countries (Algeria, Libya and Tunisia).

This project, launched in partnership with the African Water facility (AWF), the Global Environment Facility (GEF ) and the French Global Environment Facility (FFEM) , should promote the knowledge of socio-economic aspects to lead the development of operational recommendations for local sustainable use of water resources for agriculture and proposal of tangible actions for the decision makers in the concerned countries.

It lso aims to underpin action at the regional, national and local levels for the implementation of ustainable
development policies, particularly in the agricultural sector.

It is worth mentioning that the contribution of the AWF in the first phase of the NWSAS project (GeoAquifer,
see box), allowed the design and the implementation of this new project.

The NWSAS project’s objectives are the concerted management of the shared water resources and the preservation  of the quality of water and soil. This component of Phase III of SASS aims at conducting
socio-economic surveys on practices related to irrigated agriculture --which accounts for 70% of total water demand in the basin--, and testing recommendations on the field through 6 pilot sites.

The sites will test the feasibility of technical and organizational solutions proposed for constraints such as soil salinization.

With a better knowledge of cultivation and irrigation practices in the surveyed areas and their environmental impacts, the project will identify the best appropriate areas to serve as a demonstration pilots. The 6 pilot sites selected with the assistance of the concerned countries are the areas of Kebili and Djeffara (Tunisia), Adrar and
Oued Righ (Algeria), Djeffara and Oued Merdoum (Libya). Each area has a set of specific issues including: soil and groundwater vulnerability, organization, improvement of agricultural practices for a better environmental protection, development of traditional systems for water collection and distribution, water resources protection and crop yield enhancement . Thus, the developed experiences and methods in each of these issues will be
capitalized, exchanged between the stakeholders and implemented in all relevant SASS areas.

To ensure the success of the project, the expertise of the OSS and the contribution of national institutions will be combined with those of national and international experts, who will be contributing according to the needs of the surveys.