Amna Al Ketbi (Dubai)
During its participation in the activities of the Climate Conference of the Parties (COP28), the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) highlighted several issues, including global climate action, nature, land and ocean use, food and water systems, youth, education, skills, finance and gender equality. All proposed initiatives aim to strengthen partnership and cooperation at the national and international levels, mobilize resources for climate action and sustainable agricultural development, and raise awareness about the challenges of sustainable development, especially with regard to food security, nutrition, and climate action.
The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) is an international non-profit organization, and its work is based on its statute approved by the government of the United Arab Emirates and the Islamic Development Bank, and as an international non-profit organization, ICBA receives support from contributions and grants from governments, institutions and organizations. Non-governmental, private sector, multilateral agencies and academia.
ICBA aims to make the most of research and innovation through partnerships aimed at confronting challenges, developing solutions and making an impact. The center identifies, tests and presents crops and technologies that are efficient in using resources that are sensitive to climate conditions and best suited to various regions affected by salinity, water scarcity and drought. It also helps improve food security and nutrition and create job opportunities and livelihoods for some of the world's poorest rural communities.
The Center supports decision-makers in developing policies and strategies to enhance natural resource management, reduce and adapt to the effects of climate change and other challenges, and improve agricultural production in marginal environments. ICBA assumes a leadership role, as a global center of excellence and the ideal partner for research for development in various regions. Since its establishment in the United Arab Emirates in 1999.
Its importance lies in its focus on improving food security and nutrition, enhancing water security and environmental sustainability, and providing job opportunities and livelihood resources in marginal environments and areas suffering from problems of salinity, water scarcity, drought, and other challenges around the world.
The Center is keen to bring about a lasting positive change in the lives of some of the most affected rural communities around the world, and this goal is the basic foundation upon which all its work is based. An international team of scientists, experts and professionals with multiple specializations, experienced competencies and extensive experience works within the Center. The Center is also distinguished by its expertise. Comprehensive in developing tailored solutions to the problems of salinity, water scarcity and drought, and distinguished long-term research and knowledge about salinity and water scarcity in marginal environments. It provides one of the world’s largest germplasm collections of salt-, heat- and drought-tolerant plant species. It also includes a multidisciplinary research team and facilities. Distinguished research at the world level.
ICBA embodies the UAE's pioneering role in working to achieve sustainable development at the regional and global levels by investing in knowledge, innovation and scientific research to find solutions to the challenges facing saline agriculture and soil problems, innovating modern methods in the field of optimal use of water in the agricultural field, and developing agricultural strains capable of Adapting to difficult environmental and climatic conditions.
Genetic resources
The Center works to collect plant genetic resources from marginal and non-marginal environments, use them, and preserve them in its gene bank. It also works to conduct studies and research on agriculture in controlled environments, including vertical agriculture, which helps improve the efficiency of resource use in marginal conditions. The Center supports its partners in the process of formulating policies and developing relevant strategic plans to ensure sustainable crop production and improve food and nutrition security in marginal environments. This work will contribute to sustainable food production within marginal environments in light of a changing climate.
Resource sustainability
In the field of sustainability, ICBA’s efforts focus on the sustainable management of natural resources such as fresh water, as well as its focus on the efficient use of alternative water resources for the benefit of agriculture, such as treated wastewater, wastewater, produced water, and other types of salty water, including highly saline water. Returned from the desalination process and seawater, the center also helps farmers improve irrigation efficiency and agricultural water productivity through water modeling, accounting, and other tools as a means of responding to water scarcity in marginal environments.
Among the innovations that the center is working to disseminate is relying on technology to convert steam present in the air into water. The center also conducts applied research on precision agriculture, irrigation efficiency, and water accounting, as well as on the production of water designated for agriculture, remote sensing, and geographic information system applications. In addition to modeling surface and groundwater to determine the water budget and agricultural production at various levels.
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