Keynote Speakers
Topic 1: Climate Change: Vulnerability and Adaptation in Drylands
Keynote Speaker: Eng. Yadh Labane, Expert. Tunisia.
Keynote Speech Title: Climate change: a new challenge for regions prone to desertification in Drylands
Short biography: A graduate of the National School of Meteorology in Toulouse, Yadh LABANE also holds a master’s degree in physics from the Faculty of Sciences of Tunis. He had the honor and the opportunity to represent Tunisia in the negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992) and those of the Kyoto Protocol. Founder since 2013 of the YLA Consulting design office, he is also an international consultant in the field of climate change (CC). He has proven experience in vulnerability, CC adaptation and climate resilience. At the national level, his effective participation since the 1990s in several projects/meetings/workshops has enabled him to acquire in-depth knowledge of national activities in terms of vulnerability and adaptation to CC and climate resilience. Thus, he participated in the development of the national CC resilience strategy (SNRCC, 2022). Similarly, he had the opportunity to follow the strategic reflections at the basis of the development of sectoral strategies for adaptation of agriculture, water resources and ecosystems to CC (2004-2006), health to the CC (2006-2008), and tourism to the CC (2008-2010). At the international level, his experiences with the GIZ (2006-2008), the EU (the ENPI ClimaSouth project: from 02/2013 to 05/2014), the UNDP (Algeria, Guinea, Maldives and Burkina Faso), the World Bank and the African Development Bank, have enabled him to accumulate many lessons and good practices in an international and multicultural setting. They were also very fruitful in terms of knowledge of the issues and challenges relating to CC that the countries of the MENA region and sub-Saharan Africa are facing.
As a founding member of the Tunisian Association on CC and sustainable development (2C2D), he contributed to advocacy aimed at giving priority to the poorest populations who are also the most vulnerable to CC.
Topic 2: Water Resources Mobilization and Management
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Ihab Jnad, Arab Centre for the Studies of Arid Zones and Drylands (ACSAD). Tunisia.
Keynote Title: The Assessment of Climate Change Impact Water Resources in the Arab Region
Short biography: Ihab Jnad is the Director of the Water Resources Department at the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD) in Damascus, Syria since 2015. He previously served as the head of the Water Resources Development Program at ACSAD from 2002 to 2015. He also currently acts as Associate Professor at the Faculty of Agriculture, Damascus University in Syria since 2001. He specializes in water resources management using mathematical modeling, impact assessments of climate change on water resources, and estimations of crop water requirements from satellite images. His areas of expertise also include rainwater harvesting and irrigation management. He holds a Ph.D in water resources engineering from Texas A&M University, U.S.A.
Topic 2: Water Resources Mobilization and Management
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Vinay Nangia, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Marooco.
Keynote Title: Water for Food, Water for Life: The Drylands Challenge
Short biography: Dr. Vinay Nangia is Research Program Leader – Soil, Water, and Agronomy at ICARDA, a visiting professor at Tottori University in Japan and an adjunct faculty at Texas A&M University. Dr. Nangia has a Ph.D. degree in Water Resources Science and two master’s degrees – first in Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering and the second in Geographic Information Science – all from the University of Minnesota, USA. His leadership and team building skills have helped solve complex challenges to water resource management posed by climate change. His work has been supported by US$ 20 million of grant support from various donors such as the AFESD, BMGF, FAO, GIZ, IFAD, OFID, USAID, World Bank and bilateral funding from governments of China, Egypt, GCC countries, Iran, India and Morocco. Dr. Nangia has published over 300 publications including over 70 peer reviewed scientific articles in high impact journals and 40 book chapter/conference proceedings. Over the years, he has trained more than 50 graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and visiting scientists from all over the world. He is recipient of several scientific awards and honours. He serves on FAO WASAG, UNCCD IWG on Drought, UNFCCC focal point for ICARDA and other high-level expert bodies and is an advisory Board Member of GIWEH (a Geneva-based water think tank).F
Topic 3: Soil Degradation and Conservation
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Gilles Bergametti, Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (LISA). France.
Keynote Title: Wind Erosion: A Set of Processes Occurring at the Soil/Atmosphere Interface
Short biography: Dr. G. Bergametti is a CNRS research director. His work focuses on the exchange of matter at the land/atmosphere interface with particular attention to dust emission and aeolian erosion. Until 2004, he was responsible for the modeling group at LISA. He was director of LISA from 2009 to 2013. He is the author of about 120 scientific articles in international journals and has been involved in various international and European projects. He was a member of the European Community Science Panel on Atmospheric Composition Change, President of the specialized ocean-atmosphere commission of the INSU/CNRS and president of section 19 of the National Committee for French Research. He is presently President of the Program council in CNES (the French spatial agency). He is member of the European Academy of Sciences since 2019.
Topic 4: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment in Drylands
Keynote Speaker: Prof. Zohra Lili Chabaane, Institut National Agronomique de Tunisie (INAT),Tunisia.
Keynote Title: Importance du renforcement des capacités en Géomatique pour booster la recherche et le développement
Short biography: Zohra Lili Chabaane is Professor in Rural engineering Water and Forest in National Institute of Agricultural in Tunisia (INAT). She received the Double Master and Engineering degree from INAT and ENSA-Rennes in 1989 in rural engineering / Hydraulic and Agricultural Climatology, and the PhD degree from ENSA-Rennes (AGROCAMPUS OUEST), Rennes, France in 1993 in “Physics – Remote sensing, Rural and Process Engineering”. She joined the Tunisian National Agronomic Institute (University of Carthage) since 1997 where she is in charge of courses of “Remote Sensing, GIS, Spatial Analysis and Water Resources Management”. She is expert and specialized in remote sensing, GIS and spatial analysis for water resources management. She was involved in more than 32 international projects (H2020, PRIMA, ERANETMED, UE FP6, UE FP7, ANR, AUF, ACDI, PHC Maghreb, TEMPUS, ERASMUS+, OMJ, …) and coordinated some of them. Her research interests remote sensing and GIS applied to agricultural water resources management and agricultural in a context of Climate Changes and water scarcity.Due to the responsibilities that she assumed as director of studies and internships at INAT or as Vice President of the University of Carthage, she worked a lot on the employability of young graduates and also interested in the employability of young people in rural areas, particularly concerning the female gender.
She is Author and co-authored of more than 75 scientific papers in international scientific journals and presented more than 175 papers in international congresses and symposiums. She has supervised and / or co-supervised 11 doctoral theses defended and is currently supervising 4 in progress.Her H-index on May 2022 is = 22 and i10 Index =31 She was a Tunisian national HERE expert 2015-2017. She was the Vice President of the University of Carthage 2014 – 2017. Since 2017, she is the head of GREEN-TEAM laboratory (LR17AGR01/LR- Gestion intégrée des REssourcEs Naturelles : TElédétection, Analyse spatiale et Modélisation), the head of rural engineering water and forest department of INAT and member of the LMI NAILA. Since 2019, she is Scientific Advisor to MESRS Tunisia / R & I Program H2020 on the thematic “Space”
Topic 5: Geology, Geo-Resources and Environment
Keynote Speaker: Prof. Mabrouk Montacer, Faculty of Sciences of Gabes, Tunisia.
Keynote Title: To be updated soon
Short biography: To be updated soon