New soil databases for North Africa and the Sahara

Detailed information on soil resources is important to support policies dealing with issues such as agricultural development, climate change mitigation and the sustainable use of natural resources. As part of the JRC’s support to partner countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy, a workshop is planned to drive forwards collaborative initiatives for two new soil databases for Northern Africa.

The workshop will establish a harmonised set of soil parameters that are valid for agro-meteorological and environmental modelling at regional, national, and/or continental levels. In addition, the workshop will establish the baseline requirements for the development of a Soil Atlas of the Mediterranean.

Detailed information on soil resources is important to support policies dealing with issues such as agricultural development, climate change mitigation and the sustainable use of natural resources. As part of the JRC’s support to partner countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy, a workshop is planned to drive forwards collaborative initiatives for two new soil databases for Northern Africa. 

The first approach involves the full extension of the JRC’s Soil Geographical Database of Eurasia (1:1,000,000 scale) to all North African countries. The final goal is to develop a harmonised representation of the diversity and spatial variability of the soil coverage for the territories of the North African countries that is compatible with that existing for Europe. For many areas, the existing scale of data is a coarse estimation at 1:5,000,000. The second approach involves the development of a high resolution soil database with a resolution of 250 m from MODIS data for the more arid regions of North Africa. This dataset will provide an unprecedented level of detail for soils in the Sahara region, currently the focus of agricultural expansion driven by the exploitation of deep groundwater aquifers and mineral exploitation. The workshop will establish a harmonised set of soil parameters that are valid for agro-meteorological and environmental modelling at regional, national, and/or continental levels. In addition, the workshop will establish the baseline requirements for the development of a Soil Atlas of the Mediterranean.

Reference & description:

New soil databases for North Africa and the Sahara - workshop  [85 KB] (Last update: 22/05/2014)

Date, place & duration:
2-4 December 2014, Brussels, Tunisia or Algeria