4th meeting of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN) 11-13 November 2020 Mr. Abdelmjid Zouahri

1. 4th Meeting of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN)
Mr. Abdelmjid Zouahri, INRA, Morocco
NENALAB Chair
Item 7
Report from the Near East and North
African Soil Laboratory Network
(NENALAB)

2. 4th Meeting of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN)
Report of the First meeting of the Near East and North African Laboratory
Network (NENALAB)
Virtual meeting, 9 – 11 June 2020
⮚The meeting was organized by the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) and GLOSOLAN
governance, and was opened by Mr. Eduardo Mansur, FAO Land and Water
Division Director and Mr. Andrey A. Guryev, as representative of PhosAgro, donor
of the project
⮚Eighty-two experts from forty-four laboratory of the region attended the
meeting
⮚The Near East and North African Soil Laboratory Network (NENALAB) aims to
facilitate the exchange of experiences among national reference soil laboratories
via:
1. Strengthening the performance of laboratories through use of standardized
methods and protocols;
2. Harmonization of soil analysis results so that soil information would be
comparable and interpretable across laboratories, countries and regions.

3. 4th Meeting of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN)
Report of the First meeting of the Near East and North African Laboratory
Network (NENALAB)
Virtual meeting, 9 – 11 June 2020
The objectives of the first NENALAB meeting were to
✔ Establish the Regional Network and its governance,
✔Agree on the activities to implement in the region in 2020 as
per the work plan of GLOSOLAN,
✔ Collect regional inputs on GLOSOLAN work.

4. 4th Meeting of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN)
Report of the First meeting of the Near East and North African Laboratory
Network (NENALAB)
Virtual meeting, 9 – 11 June 2020
The meeting was organized into three sessions:
i) the first session focused on the presentation of GLOSOLAN activities and
objectives and the presentation of each laboratory participating in the meeting
(status, needs and expectation regarding GLOSOLAN and the implementation of the
NENALAB).
(ii) The second session of the meeting consisted of training sessions on internal and
external quality control, health and safety.
(iii) In the last session, participants discussed and agreed on the 2020-2021 work
plan of NENALAB, the position of NENALAB in GLOSOLAN, and elected their Chair
and vice-Chairs.

5. 4th Meeting of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN)
Report of the First meeting of the Near East and North African Laboratory
Network (NENALAB)
Virtual meeting, 9 – 11 June 2020
Status of participating laboratories :
Participants were given the opportunity to present their laboratory
- Laboratory facilities
-Laboratory staff
-Areas for improvement
- The expectations related to the establishment and implementation of NENALAB
reflect the needs expressed in the above-listed areas for improvements

6. 4th Meeting of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN)
Report of the First meeting of the Near East and North African Laboratory
Network (NENALAB)
Virtual meeting, 9 – 11 June 2020
Trainings:
The training focused on :
❖Internal and external quality control (trainers: Mr. Rob De Hayr,
Department of Environment and Sciences, Queensland, Australia and Mr.
Christian Hartmann, IRD France)
- Preparation of Quality Control (QC) samples and their use within laboratory
activities (especially in analytical batches)
- External quality control – proficiency testing (PT).
❖Health and safety (trainer: Ms. Hanane Aroui, IRD France)
- Laboratory safety, hazard and risk prevention

7. 4th Meeting of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN)
Report of the First meeting of the Near East and North African Laboratory
Network (NENALAB)
Virtual meeting, 9 – 11 June 2020
Position of NENALAB in GLOSOLAN
⮚ Ms. Lucrezia Caon (GLOSOLAN Coordinator, GSP Secretariat) introduced participants to GLOSOLAN and asked for their
opinion on:
⮚ The Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs): GLOSOLAN should work on harmonizing in 2020 and 2021 and the
identification of regional leaders :
⮚ In addition to the SOPs which are already on the agenda of GLOSOLAN, NENALAB proposed the network to work also on
the following SOPs in 2020:
- Texture and coarse fraction by pipette method and hydrometer.
- Dry bulk density
- Total heavy metals – digestion using aqua regia method
- CEC by ammonium acetate
- Exchangeable bases (calcium and magnesium) - titration by EDTA
- Exchangeable bases (Sodium and potassium) by flame photometer and AAS
- Available micronutrients (Fe Zn Cu Mn Mo) – extraction using DTPA

8. 4th Meeting of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN)
Report of the First meeting of the Near East and North African Laboratory
Network (NENALAB)
Virtual meeting, 9 – 11 June 2020
Position of NENALAB in GLOSOLAN
- Additionally, participants identified methods to harmonize in 2021-2022:
o Boron in soil extract by chloromin method
o Total Boron- hot water extract
o Chloride and Sulfate in soil extract
o Soil water retention curve (SWRC)
o Soil aggregates stability
- Opinion on the FAO Soils Bulletin 74 – “Guidelines for Quality Management in
Soil and Plant Laboratories”. Participant expressed the need to update the
guidelines

9. 4th Meeting of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN)
Report of the First meeting of the Near East and North African Laboratory
Network (NENALAB)
Virtual meeting, 9 – 11 June 2020
Governance
- Mr. Abdelmjid Zouahri from the Laboratory of Soil, Water and Plant
Analyses (Lab-URECRN) INRA (Morocco) was nominated Chair of NENALAB.
- Mr. Alaa Khallouf from the Damascus and Qunietrah Labs (ANRR-lab9)
(Syria) was nominated Vice-Chair of NENALAB for the Near East sub-region.
- Ms. Hana Nabil from the Laboratoire de Pédologie ENFI (Morocco) was
nominated Vice-Chair for the North-Africa sub-region.

10. 4th Meeting of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN)
Report of the First meeting of the Near East and North African Laboratory
Network (NENALAB)
Virtual meeting, 9 – 11 June 2020
Venue and time of the next meeting
❖ Due to the world pandemic, the 1st NENALAB meeting has been organized
virtually.
❖ This allowed all participants to be more confident with the powerful tool of
video meeting.
❖ Both advantages and disadvantages have been reported by the participants.
❖ After discussing this item, the majority of the participants proposed to continue
organizing NENALAB meeting online, in order to allocate resources for trainings
and other areas of improvement (such as equipment and training).

11. 4th Meeting of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN)
Thanks for your attention