Events

FAO Iraq, through the GEF-funded project “Sustainable Land Management for Improved Livelihoods in Degraded Areas of Iraq,” is building national capacity to assess and monitor land degradation and support evidence-based SLM decision-making. This training will equip government and local authority staff with practical skills to collect accurate spatial field data and apply advanced remote sensing and GIS tools (e.g., Map Marker, ArcGIS Pro, Google Earth Engine) to feed a digital land degradation monitoring platform. The programme includes two days of field-based training in Basra, six days of technical training in Baghdad, and a two-day platform handover at the Ministry of Environment, delivered by FAO specialist Dr. Mohsen Ramadan.

Southern Iraq faces severe soil salinity that threatens agricultural productivity, crop choices, and farmer livelihoods, driven by poor irrigation practices, intensive cropping, and declining water quality—risks that are worsening under climate change. This follow-up training will equip 27 Ministry of Agriculture extension officers to serve as Farmer Field School (FFS) facilitators on soil salinity management for sustainable agriculture. Trained officers will cascade the knowledge to 2,635 farmers in Thi Qar and Al Muthanna under the FAO–GEF project, promoting practical measures to reclaim and manage salt-affected soils and improve sustainable land and water management.