Soil Science at the CIHEAM’s Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari in Italy

For more than 60 years, the Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes (CIHEAM) has played a crucial role in education, research, and cooperation in the Mediterranean Region. Its four institutes located in Italy, France, Spain, and Greece have trained hundreds of students primarily coming from North African and Middle Eastern countries as well as from the Western Balkans and other regions worldwide. As one the four institutes of CIHEAM, the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (CIHEAM Bari) expertise focuses on sustainable land, soil, and water management, integrated pest management, organic farming in Mediterranean agriculture, integrated coastal zone management and a few other areas. For at least three decades, CIHEAM Bari has put soil science at the center of its educational programs and has organized several national and international events with participation of soil experts from all continents. Overall, more than 600 hundred students have been trained in soil science and related topics. Furthermore, CIHEAM Bari has conducted detailed soil surveys in Apulia Region, Italy and Albania and has promoted sustainable soil management throughout the Mediterranean including the Western Balkans, in the context of several research and cooperation projects funded by the European Commission, Italian Agency for International Cooperation (AICS), and other donors. Many of these projects provide excellent examples of integrated land, soil, and water management with a direct impact on local communities such as the one implemented in the Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. CIHEAM Bari considers soil science as a main pillar of its future education, research and cooperation activities and is committed to play a very important role toward improving soil health of Mediterranean soils for many years to come.