Norwegian fertilizer producer Yara has signed a cooperation agreement with The Sahara Forest Project AS and the Qatar Fertiliser Company (Qafco) to help turn the desert in Qatar “green”.
The plan calls for building a Pilot Plant in Qatar. In a few words, The Sahara Forest Project (SFP) is about creating re-vegetation and green jobs through profitable production of food, water, clean energy and biomass in desert areas, as Qatar, by combining proven environmental technologies, using seawater, greenhouses, solar energy and the supply of CO2 and fertilizer.
The estimated cost for the Pilot Plant is 5.3 million USD and Qafco and Yara International will provide the funding. The parties have already started the preparations, and are on schedule to reach the target of having a fully operational Pilot Plant by December 2012.
“We are very excited to join forces with Qafco and Yara to realize this truly unique system of green technologies. The Pilot Plant will prove the benefits of a holistic approach to challenges in the food, water and energy-sector,” said CEO of The Sahara Forest Project, Joakim Hauge.
"While contributing with our industrial experience and nutrient knowledge in this environmental project, we are at the same time developing potential new and exciting markets in desert areas,” said Jørgen Ole Haslestad, President and CEO of Yara International.
- The Sahara Forest Project will ensure important research into efforts to secure protection of the environment, says Frederic Hauge, head of the Norwegian environmental organisation Bellona, which is partner in the project.
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