A partnership agreement has been signed by the MEDISS partner "Institute of Arid Regions (IRA) - Regional Direction of Gabès", among other Tunisian stakeholders part of the PEER* project “Developing organic soil management technologies to enhance carbon capture, climate adaptability, and sustainability of smallholder farms in Tunisia”. 

The object of this agreement is to define the modalities of scientific cooperation between the partners in the fields of research, dissemination and training.

The project will address a priority issue for Tunisia, natural resource management, to include water management, soil conservation, land management, biodiversity, and energy diversification, as well as general sustainable development issues and climatic adaptability. 

Among many constraints for sustainable agriculture production, declining quality of soil resources is one of the central component for unsustainability and vulnerability of smallholder farms to yield loss and climate change effects. 

A larger goal for this project is to develop novel soil management technologies to increase carbon capture and climate adaptability on smallholder farms of Tunisia, applicable to other regions of Middle East and North Africa. One of the main objectives of the PEER Project is to develop novel composting technologies to effectively recycle on farm nutrients and sustainably improve soil fertility and soil health on small-holder farms. 

The Institute of Arid Regions (IRA) - Regional Direction of Gabès, through its Director, Dr Eturki, undertakes to ensure:

• monitoring of composting processes and interest parameters;
• the study of physico-chemical and microbiological aspects of the composting process.

The PEER project shares with MEDISS the attention for sustainable development, climate adaptability and the developing  of organic waste management technologies.

*Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER), is a competitive grants program administered by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, that invites scientists in developing countries, to apply for funds to support research and capacity-building activities on topics with strong potential development impacts.