A project to use treated waste water in forestry and agroforestry systems to sustain livelihoods in four Mediterranean countries has recently come under discussion by the EU Parliament.

GoForWood.info website outlines how a project by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has already seen a forest management plan developed for a plantation irrigated with treated waste water along the Suez Canal in Egypt; a ferti-irrigation plant developed in Morocco and a phyto-depuration plant implemented in an oasis of the Sahara desert in Algeria. Two more agroforestry systems using treated waste water are planned for Tunisia.

The project aims to increase the quality and availability of water for agroforestry production to ensure food security and control desertification. There are also opportunities for capacity building through training courses and technology transfer.

Read the full story: The use of treated waste water in forestry and agroforestry systems

For more information on the project, Forest restoration in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia using treated waste water to sustain smallholders' and farmers' livelihoods, visit the FAO website: http://www.fao.org/forestry/66627/en/