A delegation from the Lebanese University, including Prof. Fawaz Al-Omar, Dean of the Doctoral School at the Lebanese University, and Prof. Antoine El-Samrani, Professor in Environmental Geosciences, visited Akkar Al-Atika village to inspect the proposed site where Mara-Mediterra’s agro-ecological practices will be tested and validated.
The delegation was received by the Mayor of Akkar Al-Atika, Prof. Mohamad Khalil, and researcher Dr. Fatima Yahya.
Prof. Mohamad Khalil lost no time to emphasize what he considered as a most pressing concern:
“Unfortunately, a majority of farmers do not manage the available water resources which nature provides us with in a sustainable manner. In fact, huge amounts of water are wasted where such water could be put to good use during periods of drought. As burnt trees due to recent massive fire outbreaks were cut down, soil erosion quickened at an alarming rate. A well-thought-out action plan is needed urgently to restore and preserve the area’s scenic beauty of years past.”
The Living Labs to be set up in Mara-Mediterra are intended precisely towards the objective of entrusting its participants with the drawing up of an action plan to combat land and water degradation afflicting their surroundings. During the visit, several ideas were exchanged concerning the desired composition of the Living Lab. While the agro-ecological practices are foremost envisaged to be tested and validated by farmers from the nearby village of Akkar al-Atika, the delegation fully subscribed to the notion that the site also creates the opportunity to test and validate some of the novel eco-engineering solutions that will be developed in Mara-Mediterra’s sister hotspots of land and water degradation around the Mediterranean.
Following on their reconnaissance of the site earmarked for the Living Lab activities in Lebanon, the delegation came up with manyfold ideas, which are outlined in more detail below.
Terracing of the hilly terrain to enable farmers to test agro-ecological practices
The proposed site is a hilly terrain which makes it not only prone to soil erosion, but in several places the slopes are too steep to permit farmers to test Mara-Mediterra’s array of agro-ecological practices. The delegation opined that it would be ideal if the site were therefore first turned into a series of terraces. This could be achieved by building retaining walls running along the topographic contour lines. In between these retaining walls, the soil can be tilled and then levelled so as to obtain a flat area resistant to soil erosion.
Creation of corridors and of a hillside lake to combat risk of forest fires
The forest adjacent to the proposed Living Lab site was thankfully spared from the recent major fire outbreaks which have plagued Akkar Al-Atika in recent years. Reflecting on ways how to prevent also this forest could become a victim of a future fire outbreak, the delegation proposed to have this forest divided into sections separated by adequate corridors, a well-proven practice to limit the spreading of a fire in forests. Moreover, a hillside lake could be dug for irrigating and moistening the forest during hot weather in order to decrease the risk of a fire outbreak in the first place. Furthermore, the idea emerged to install a Temperature Monitoring Network as a further example of good practice in forest protection and conservation.
Building indoor and outdoor tree and plant nurseries
Aside from outdoor tree and plant nurseries, the abandoned warehouses on the site could easily be turned into indoor plant nurseries for both fruit bearing and ornamental trees and plants. The objective would to permit farmers to increase on the number of orchards in the area, but also to provide saplings that could serve the purpose of reafforesting the large areas of prime forest that were recently destroyed.
On the one hand, this would bring the advantage that the saplings would become available at prices that are within reach of the local famers’ income. At the same time, the Living Lab participants will be invited to experiment with different tree and plant species that are both fast-growing and drought-tolerant, such as olive trees and the heat-loving, sun-tolerant Aleppo pine trees.
Micro-ecosystem based afforestation
The delegation opined that it would make perfect sense for the Living to trial the protocol proposed by AMENHYD, the industrial partner from Algeria in the Mara-Mediterra partnership. The new approach is based on the artificial creation of a micro-ecosystem at the level of each forest plant, the use of renewable energy, the valorization of wastewater treatment by-products and the use of digital monitoring tools. AMENHYD’s motivation is to overcome the obstacles that have contributed to slowing down the success of Algeria’s Green Dam project, an ambitious national afforestation project that was launched to combat desertification. Obviously, in Akkar Al-Atikka it would not be required for the Living Lab to delve into the valorization of sludge as a fertilizer, since there is an abundance of animal manure which could be put to good use.
Rainfall harvesting
To augment fresh water availability in the area, the runoff that occurs during heavy downpours could be captured in an adequate surface water reservoir or a series of ponds. To determine the ideal location for a surface water reservoir, the expert guidance on hydrological and hydraulic modeling will be sought from DEU DESUM, the Turkish university research team in the Mara-Mediterra Partnership. In fact, DEU DESUM is in charge of the development of a dynamic water allocation scheme to return Marmara Lake to good ecological status. This creates the opportunity to come up with policy support measures, e.g. farmers’ access to the water stored in the reservoir could be conditioned on their having installed an operational drip irrigation system, which is a well-proven practice to save on water requirements.
A novel primary production system based on aquaponic wetlands and hydroponics
The delegation also showed their interest to trial an eco-engineering solution promoted by the Research and Innovation Center at the Egyptian Chinese University (ECU) in the Mara-Mediterra Partnership. This eco-engineering solution takes the form of aquaponic wetlands that are connected to water tanks used for the breeding of fish. ECU’s experimental trials at the lab scale, conducted as part of a precursor EU funded research project, have shown that by adding the breeding of specific algae, the entire system has high potential to reach zero-liquid discharge. This is accomplished by continuously recirculating water between a plant bed and a fish farming habitat. The system can be described as a means of soil-less growing of food crops. Instead, the food crops grow in an aquaponic wetland that is nutrient-rich due to it being supplied with the effluent of the fish farming habitat. Indeed, beneficial bacteria convert the organic matter produced by the fish into nutrients which is then taken up by the food crops. Each component of the hybrid system needs to be further evaluated to reach optimum cost-efficiency, including the use of solar energy to run the system.
Installing a smart irrigation network
For all of the aforementioned ideas it will be essential to have a secure, year-round water supply on the site itself. To this effect, the delegation proposed to dig a large, underground reservoir on the site, located where the maximum amount of runoff could be collected, and topped up – when necessary – by a bowser service.
Still, the combined water requirements for the proposed activities could quickly become significant. Hence the suggestion emerged to install a smart irrigation network on the site. This idea was further motivated by the fact that in doing so, it would be possible to demonstrate to the farmers the saving of water that can be obtained, without compromising on the yield of food crops.
What is essential of course, is to have a secure water supply on the site.
Aspirations expressed at the end of the reconnaissance visit
Bidding their farewell, Prof. Fawaz Al-Omar and Prof. Antoine El-Samrani expressed their thanks for having been invited to familiarize themselves with the proposed site and more so for having been invited to brainstorm on how to put the site to optimum use.
They aspired that the Living Lab site would serve as a learning centre to spread awareness about nature-based solutions that guarantee the sustainable management of water, soil and forests, and hence the well-being of the rural community.
Above all, they expressed the hope that the experience gained through the Living Lab activities would provide job opportunities, especially for women and young people in the village as they would be practicing eco-friendly techniques that would permit to sustain their livelihoods.
The previous chapter in Mara-Mediterra’s Journey can be accessed through this link.
