Project description
Turning the desert green
Today, the historical Fertile Crescent and many other areas face rapid desertification, which cannot be effectively prevented or reversed using current methods or technologies. Yet, the recently patented and demonstrated mixing process to create Liquid NanoClay (LNC) has been hailed as a World Wildlife Foundation 'Climate Solver' thanks to a unique patented formulation of clay processed into a liquid compound. It lowers water usage, improves soil health and multiplies yields production while mitigating climate change. The EU-funded LNC project aims to provide LNC technology where it is most necessary. At that point, it will enable redesigning of the prototype for movable, commercial mixer units to create endless amounts of LNC on site and provide numerous benefits to the environment.
Objective
We urgently need to fight desertification by restoring areas of the world historically bread baskets suffering from erosion, harvests lost and poor water quality. Farmers and government authorities desperately need a fast-acting sustainable land management solutions to protect over 1 billion livelihoods.
Until now this has proven incredibly challenging as available technology and methods require years to get arid soils strong enough to retain water.
Desert Control can convert arid lands into fertile soils in a matter of hours with a patented mixing process to create Liquid NanoClay (LNC). This clay and water compound is sprayed onto sandy soils, quickly penetrating them at depths of 60 cm and enabling them to retain water and nutrients and host plant boosting fungi creating conditions for fertile land.
Our first demonstrations with farmers in the UAE, the Agricultural Research Centre in Egypt, Ministry of Interior in Abu Dubai and the Sinai Governorate have successfully shown that LNC treatment can reduce the need for irrigation by up to 77% and increase soil fertility up to 40% leading to 416% higher yields.
After the success of our first demonstration, we got the attention of large-reaching organizations such as BBC and the World Wildlife Foundation WWF who has identified us as a world Climate Solver Transforming arid lands will help mitigate climate change by reducing land’s surface temperature to 15°C, with just 1% of the planet’s arid land treated with LNC, these spaces could absorb 26 million tonnes of CO2 a year! To make LNC available for the people who need it, the agricultural sector, desert return projects and commercial and private greenery and provide unquantifiable benefits to society and the natural environment we need €2.5M to redesign our existing prototype for a transportable, commercial mixer. These units will be licensed all over the world to create endless amounts of LNC on-site.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringecosystem-based managementecological restoration
- engineering and technologycivil engineeringwater engineeringirrigation
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringnatural resources managementland management
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringecosystem-based managementgreen infrastructure
- engineering and technologycivil engineeringwater engineeringwater supply systems
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
4052 ROYNEBERG
Norway
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.