Ministry of Local Administration and Environment holds workshop on Combatting Desertification

DAMASCUS, Jul.4, (ST)- The recent developments in the International Convention to Combat Desertification, the National Drought Management Strategy, the related early warning system, and the mechanisms taken to ease the effects of drought and adapt to it were discussed during the workshop held by the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment on Monday.

The workshop was held under the slogan “Working together to overcome the drought crisis) on the occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification.

The participants in the workshop underscored the need to spread environmental awareness to protect natural resources and to evaluate and review the drought strategy after more than ten years of preparation by the Ministry of Agriculture in accordance with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the prevailing climatic conditions and the current state of natural resources, and in response to the growing need for early action and effective to avoid consequences for populations and ecology systems.

Syria is currently implementing two projects in cooperation with the Arab Center for Studies of Arid Zones and Drylands (ACSAD). the first one focuses on implementing national indicators of land degradation and desertification in assessing its degradation, while the second one focuses on strategies to address the problems of land degradation and desertification resulting from the war on Syria.

The Ministry, in cooperation with the General Authority for Remote Sensing and the General Authority for Scientific Agricultural Research, implemented a project on studying land degradation using remote sensing techniques and a geographic information system in the coastal area.

Moreover, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),  is working in partnership with the Syrian government to develop programs and strategies to confront drought, reduce its risks, enhance security, agricultural production, modern irrigation systems, and develop smart agricultural practices in order to achieve Food security.

It is noteworthy that there are about one billion people suffer from the phenomenon of desertification in the world, bearing in mind that the cost of anti-desertification activities and land rehabilitation is only half of this amount.

Every year the world loses 10 million hectares of land due to desertification.

The number of countries that have prepared the Land Degradation Neutrality Program so far is 129, including Syria.

Basma Qaddour