Sustainable Management of Kharga Oasis Agroecosystems in the New Valley Governorate

FAO

Sustainable Management of Kharga Oasis Agroecosystems in the New Valley Governorate

Evaluation highlights

Year of publication 2025

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 2 p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) The project’s goal was to ensure sustainable food production and improve soil quality and agrobiodiversity in the oasis agroecosystems of Egypt’s Western Desert. It focused on three key components: i) building an environment for sustainable land, water, and agrobiodiversity management; ii) demonstrating efficient practices for sustainable land and water management and agrobiodiversity conservation in three pilot sites; and iii) managing knowledge to scale and expand project results. The Desert Research Center led the project, with support from the FAO for project management and technical assistance.

Language English

Related items

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Booklet

Terminal evaluation of the project “Sustainable Management of Kharga Oasis Agroecosystems in the Egyptian Western Desert”
Project code: GCP/EGY/030/GFF, GEF ID: 9928
2025

Also available in:

No results found.

The Kharga Oasis is the biggest one in the Egyptian Western Desert and has been targeted as pilot area for FAO-GEF project intervention. The Kharga Oasis has been severely affected by desertification and land degradation, resulting in 40 percent of cultivated land becoming barren. The remaining 60 percent is suffering from human-induced degradation and increased wind and water erosion processes. Soil salinity and wind erosion are the main challenges faced by farmer communities in the Kharga Oasis agroecosystem. Within the Kharga Oasis, three intervention villages, i.e. Nasser El-Thawra, El-Mounira, and El-Shirka, have been selected from a list of ten sites that met several criteria for successful demonstration of sustainable land, water, and agrobiodiversity management practices. The project's objectives were well aligned with the needs of local communities, identified through a participatory planning approach, but also with national development strategies. The project enhanced the institutional, management, and technical capacities of key stakeholders through tailored training programmes, and successfully promoted integrated sustainable land and water management and agrobiodiversity practices. The FAO team and executing partners, notably the Desert Research Centre, established robust connections with local governments and communities, fostering trust and ensuring local ownership. The evaluation recommends FAO to engage in other/future initiatives aiming to replicate and upscale the project in other areas of the Kharga Oasis, and to continue supporting the local seed bank and the biocontrol laboratory established by the project to ensure the sustainability of those interventions.
Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
Sustainable management of Kharga oasis agro-ecosystems 2021

Also available in:

Arabic

A rapid population growth, with its exponential urbanization and extended and intensified unsustainable agricultural sector development (with over-pumping, overgrazing, monoculture, and heavy reliance on synthetic fertilizers) have been the main drivers of land degradation processes including progressive and accelerated salinization, soil and water pollution, soil fertility depletion, and erosion of genetic plant resources. These have further led to increased wind and water erosion and sand encroachment.
Book (series)
The new generation of watershed management programmes and projects
A resource book for practitioners and local decision-makers based on the findings and recommendations of a FAO review
2006

Also available in:

French
Spanish

On the occasion of the International Year of Mountains-2002, FAO and its partners undertook a large-scale assessment and global review of the current status and future trends of integrated and participatory watershed management. The overall objectives were to promote the exchange and dissemination of experiences in implementing watershed management projects in the decade from 1990 to 2000 and to identify the vision for a new generation of watershed management programmes and projects. This resour ce book represents a summary and critical analysis of the rich discussions and vast materials that emerged during the review, as well as the review's findings and recommendations. It presents the state of the art in watershed management, promotes further reflection and creative thinking and proposes new ideas and approaches for future watershed management programmes and projects. This publication has been written primarily for field-level watershed management practitioners and local decision-mak ers involved in watershed management at the district or municipality level. It will also be a useful source of information for other readers such as senior officers and consultants specialized in other areas, evaluators, policy-makers and students of watershed management.