part 1 - EuroAfrica-ICT

The Environmental and Socio-economic Contribution of Palm Geotextilesto Sustainable Development and Soil ConservationPeriod: 01/07/2005 to 30/06/2008Budget from EC: EUR 1 749 876website: www.borassus-project.net/Palm leaf geotextiles offer considerable potential incontributing to global sustainable development and soilconservation. Their use will promote sustainable andenvironmentally friendly palm agriculture, labour-intensiveemployment, SME development and earn hard currency. Inthe industrialised world, they will assist the stabilisation ofcomplex slopes.The project will test geotextile mats made from ‘Borassusaethiopum’ leaves along with other structurally similarspecies in field and laboratory conditions, to evaluate theirlong-term effectiveness in controlling soil erosion and toassess their sustainability and socio-economic viability.Objectives include: palm agriculture to discourage deforestation andpromote both reforestation and agroforestry; labour-intensive industry, particularly encouraging theemployment of socially-disadvantaged groups; countries to earn hard currency for the developingeconomy and promote development, based on theprinciples of fair trade; soil. Palm geotextiles will be especially beneficial forcomplex engineering problems, particularly in thebuilding and road construction industries and coastaldefence, to stabilise engineered slopes.These include: reducing soil erodibility and soil loss in relation tospecific soil properties, environmental conditions andland-uses, selection of soil types and materials, and in arange of climatic conditions; established soil erosion control techniques; Coordinator: Dr Michael Augustine FullenUniversity of Wolverhamptonsystems — the economic aspects of applying palmgeotextiles on soil fertility changes by using traditionalcultivation practices to demonstrate their efficiency asa reliable and sustainable technique; industry in ground strengthening to refine analyticaland design technologies, advance novel materialproduction and define the performance characteristicsand indices of palm geotextiles when used underrealistic construction conditions; impact of the establishment of palm-mat geotextiles onhydrological and erosion processes can be predicted fora range of environmental conditions; makers, particularly in rural development economies,of environmental protection and soil conservationabilities; teaching people to produce palm geotextiles; protocols, so that the mats can be efficiently producedby SMEs in INCO-DEV countries.The project is novel and offers new bioengineeringsolutions to environmental problems. Preliminaryinvestigations suggest palm geotextiles are an effective,cheap and economically viable soil conservation method,with enormous global potential. BORASSUS will providemulti-faceted environmental benefits, which includetechnologies for sustainable plant production, promotingsustainable use of indigenous plants, improved ecosystemmanagement for sustainability, decreasing deforestation,improved agroforestry and successful and cost-effectivegeotextile applications in diverse environments. The projectwill improve socio-economic foundations for sustainabledevelopment, with the benefits for INCO-DEV countriesincluding poverty alleviation, engagement of disadvantagedgroups as stakeholders, employment for disadvantagedgroups, SME development, export of geotextiles earninghard currency, environmental education and localcommunity involvement in reclamation and environmental-Natural Resources