Ministries of Environment, Agriculture Use Modern Technologies to Protect Wildlife

DAMASCUS, (ST) – The second training workshop on the use of geographic information systems in the management of protected areas and wildlife was opened here within the framework of the project to strengthen the regional capacity in this area the Near East region funded by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization FAO.

The Director of Forestry in the Ministry of Agriculture Eng. Wajih  El-Khoury  underlined the importance of the workshop in the conservation of biodiversity through the collection of data and information about wildlife and nature reserves by using geographic information systems as a modern way in the presentation of information and developed using databases and software and submitting them to those who take interest in the wildlife and take the appropriate decision, which depends on the size and the quality of available information.

 For his part, Director of Biodiversity at the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs Eng. Bilal al Hayek pointed out that that this system is an integrated decision to support using GIS technology which provides a detailed report through the analysis of available environmental information, indicating that by providing the program with the geographical coordinates of the required site due to be assessed, the location is presented on the map and giving a report on it, which facilitates the protection and development of wildlife and nature reserves and conservation.

For his part, the National Coordinator of the Project, Eng. Omar Zreiq, noted that the project comes within the framework of the fruitful cooperation between the Syrian government represented by the Ministry of Agriculture and FAO for the protection of wildlife and protected areas, pointing out that the project includes three training courses. The first session was implemented, which included the databases and the information and priorities in the protection and sustainable management.

Sharif el -Khatib