This project is managed and coordinates By The Regional Center For Remote Sensing of North Africa States (CRTEAN) and Funded by the World Bank, supported by GEF & Arab water council and technically supported by 
NASA.
This Project deals with the exploitation of water in Tunisia. It includes five axes:
- Flood Mapping and Modeling.
- Irrigation and Crop Mapping
- Drought
- Ground water storage
- Climate change
FLOOD MAPPING AND MODELLING
PROBLEMATIC
Tunisia has a dense hydrographic network in the north, whose river basins account for 81% of the national surface water potential. Oued Medjerda, which rises in Algeria, is the biggest river, with an annual water potential of around 0.8 billion m3. This region is prone to flooding events.
Since these regions encompass a high socio-economic interest for the country, flood mitigation efforts are important to minimize loss of human lives and property.
OBJECTIVES
Developing flood inundation and forecast maps: the ultimate purpose of this requirement is to provide these maps in a timely manner to the Tunisian organizations involved in the field of emergency mana-gement and disaster response.
Inundations maps will be generated in near real time and provide the information on which geographic areas are impacted due to flooding.
Forecast maps will provide early warning indication about areas, which may be under flood risk.
PHASES
Phase 1 : Identification and analysis of users needs
Phase 2 : Capacity building
Phase 3 : Development and implementation
Phase 4 : Dissemination
PARTNERS
- Regional Center for Remote Sensing of North African States (CRTEAN)
- Ministry of Agriculture: General Directorate of Water Resources (DGRE) & General Directorate of Dams and Major Hydraulic works (DGBGTH)
- National Centre for Mapping and Remote Sensing (CNCT)
- National Institute of Meteorology (INM)
- National Agronomic Institute of Tunis (INAT)
IRRIGATION AND CROP MAPPING
PROBLEMATIC
Many environmental issues and natural resource management identified in the agriculture sector in Tunisia need accurate and timely information on land cover and land use, including cultivated areas.
However, detailed and accurate and timely information on land use and its attributes throughout the crop are not available. Similarly, the ability to extract this information from satellite data continuously and with a variety of precision and operation of biophysical models are currently lacking
OBJECTIVES
-Establishment of a methodology based on remote sensing technics for irrigated crop mapping and water status.
- Validation provided models for estimating evapo-transpiration and soil moisture data using satellite images for defining the water needs of crops.
- Implementation of the WISP platform (water information system platform) as a monitoring tool for optimizing the use of water resources.
PHASES
Phase 1 : Identification and analysis of users needs
Phase 2 : Capacity building
Phase 3 : Development and implementation
Phase 4 : Dissimination
PARTNERS
- Regional Center for Remote Sensing of North African States (CRTEAN)
- Ministry of Agriculture: General Directorate of Rural Engineering and Water Use (DGGREE) - General Directorate of Agricultural Production (DGPA)- National Institute of Field Crops (INGC )
- National Center for Mapping and Remote Sensing (CNCT)
- National Institute of Meteorology (INM)
- National Agronomic Institute of Tunis (INAT)
- National Engineering School of Tunis (ENIT)
GROUND WATER STORAGE
PROBLEMATIC
Groundwater overexploitation and the difficulty to evaluate correctly withdrawals related to public and private irrigation perimeters which are difficult to be controlled continue to be serious questions in Tunisia
The delimitation of aquifer systems, the identification of recharge areas and drainage delimitation of the overexploited areas, identification of salt water intrusion, delimitation of areas with brackish groundwater, location of operating water points, inventory of surface wells and artificial recharge sites, etc need to be better known.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
Develop water balance at the hydrogeologic basin by the evaluation of reserves and withdrawals of groundwater and to provide managers and planners with updated and accurate informations on the status of groundwater resources in the intensively exploited reservoirs. These informations will help to make the best projections for a more efficient water resources management.
PHASES
Phase 1 : Identification and analysis of users needs
Phase 2 : Capacity building
Phase 3 : Development and implementation
Phase 4 : Dissemination
PARTNERS
- Regional Center for Remote Sensing of North African States (CRTEAN)
- Ministry of Agriculture: General Directorate of Water Resources (DGRE) - General Directorate of Agricultural Production (DGPA) - General Directorate of Rural Engineering and Water Exploitation (DGGREE) – Regional Departments for Agricultural Development (CRDA) of Nabeul, Kairouan, Gabes, Sidi Bouzid, Gafsa, Tozeur, Kebili
- National Center for Mapping and Remote Sensing (CNCT)
- National Institute of Meteorology (INM)
CLIMATE CHANGE
PROBLEMATIC
The 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovern-mental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR4) has indicated that climate change over the next century will affect rainfall patterns, river flows and sea levels ail over the world. Climate change impacts are more pronounced when they also occur with other water stresses such as from increases in population and inadequate access to water and sanitation.
For many parts of the MENA region, there is an expected precipitation decrease over the next century of over 20%, and warmer temperatures are simultaneously expected to increase the extreme events of droughts and floods.
At the same time, climate change projections are limited by the coarse spatial resolution of GCMs and by scientific uncertainty regarding the rate and severity of predicted change.
OBJECTIVES & OUTCOMES
- Projections of climate change at high resolution
- The results will be analyzed to develop future scenarios or impact on rainfall, agriculture and natural disasters
- This will help to provide uncertainty estimates and understanding of projected impacts.
PHASES
Phase 1 : Identification and analysis of users needs
Phase 2 : Capacity building
Phase 3 : Development and implementation
Phase 4 : Dissemination
PARTNERS
- Regional Center for Remote Sensing of North African States (CRTEAN)
- National Institute of Meteorology (INM)
DROUGHT MONITORING
PROBLEMATIC
- Preparedness for drought forms an importantpart of national environmental policies.
- Tunisia has limited institutional and technical capacity to prepare for a drought and to mitigate its impacts.
- Insufficient readily available information on drought onset and development for agencies and for the general public.
OBJECTIVES
Developing drought onset early warning indicators that will provide an early warning for the agriculture and farming community of Tunisia.
Developing Vegetation monitoring indicators (standardized vegetation index, vegetation condition index, temperature condition index, vegetation health index, vegetation drought index, water stress vegetation index)
Soil moisture prediction using radiometric signal changes of terrestrial surface temperature.
PHASES
Phase 1 : Identification and analysis of users needs
Phase 2 : Capacity building
Phase 3 : Development and implementation
Phase 4 : Dissemination
PARTNERS
- Regional Center for Remote Sensing of North African States (CRTEAN)
- Ministry of Agriculture : General Directorate of Water Resources (DGRE) - Regional Departments for Agricultural Development (CRDA)
- Arid Regions Institute (IRA)
- National Center for Mapping and Remote Sensing (CNCT)
- National Institute of Meteorology (INM)
Activates about the LDAS project
• National Workshop about the Begging of the project held in Tunisia on 30-31/1/2012 with the attendance of expertise From NASA.
• Participating at the Kick Off Meeting 12-13/11/2012 in Jordan.
• Participating at the meeting with NASA on 14/11/2012 in Jordan.
• A second workshop was held in Tunis on 22 and 23 November 2012. This workshop was organized to gather potential users of the project to better define expectations and better understand the future results of the project.
• Participating at the meeting with World Bank on 25/04/2013 in Tunis.
• Participating at the Management visit to GSFC from 27/05 to 02/06/2013.
• Training on Crest model at Science Systems and Applications (SSAI , Inc.) for M. Ahmed EZZINE and Mr. Aymen LAZREG from 27/10 to 08/11/2013.
• Workshop with partners and end-users held in Tunisia on 25-27 November 2013