Iran is located in arid and semi-arid belt of the world and water scarcity is considered as one of the inherent and climatic features of the regions. During past decades, climate change has led to the aggravation of the conditions, so that, as statistical models show, by 2050, Iran will reach an increase in temperature of 2.6 degrees Celsius and a 35 % decrease in rainfall (NCCOI, 2014). According to the Global Climate Risk Index 2021 report from 2000 to 2019, many Asian countries (Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Qatar) are exposed to very high risks of climate change (Eckstein et al., 2021). Since agriculture is a highly climatic-dependent industry, the increase in the frequency of extreme events such as droughts, floods, fires, and storms can pose a great threat to agricultural products, livestock, agricultural infrastructure, and even the lives of farming communities. This means that climate change is a critical factor when addressing food security issues in this region. In other words, challenges caused by climate change inevitably have a great impact on food security. Therefore, the main goals of the visit are: 1. To get insights into the current and past projects conducted by Professor Sebastian Dotterl and his team on soil organic matter management in SSA and the active involvement of the applicant in the current projects both in the lab and in the field; 2. To develop and adapt the model together with professor Sebastian Dotterl in the context of semi-arid agricultural soils with low water availability; 3. To come up with an extended project for improving soil organic matter content of the soil in the study area of the applicant for the continuous and long-term collaboration with professor Sebastian Dotterl and his team.
