Sub – Regional Program to Combat Desertification (SRAP) in West Asia

The United Nations convention to combat desertification (UNCCD) has prepared to express the willingness of the international society to coordinate the efforts that aimed to combat desertification and rehabilitation of the degraded lands and controlling the negative desertification effects on the natural recourses and the human communities.

The convention versions concentrated on the work at many levels through national action plans (NAPs) and the sub- regional action programs (SRAPs) and regional action programs (RAPs) based on the cooperation and coordination between each sub- regional countries, where this programs encouraged deliberation and support cooperation at implementing special activities in monitoring and controlling desertification and accessing the sufficiency of (NAPs).

This cooperation includes the implementation of joint activities about cross- borders natural resources management, in addition to scientific and technical cooperation, as well as capacity building and strengthening the related national institutions.

In this framework the West Asian countries prepared SRAP in order to promote the cooperation in the field of desertification issues through the supporting of ongoing projects and implement new joint activities, also to support the implementation of UNCCD on national and sub- regional levels. After series of meetings the projects of the programme were prepared in cooperation between United Nations environment programme/ regional office for West Asia ( UNEP / ROWA), the Arab center for the studies of arid zones and dry lands (ACSAD), the international center for agricultural research in the dry areas (ICARDA).

2. Project objectives:

The project focused on two strategic domains common to all member countries in West Asia which are water resources and vegetation cover and its sustainable managements.

Accordingly SRAP operated through two thematic networks (TNs) which are sustainable water management (TN1) and sustainable management of vegetation cover (TN2), with the following goals.

• To provide catalytic support to member countries to develop and implement their strategies for sustainable management of water resources and vegetative cover.

 To develop pilot activities promoting innovations in water management and range and forest management.

• To provide incremental support and assistance to selected programs and build partnerships with all stakeholders.

• To strengthen the implementation of the UNCCD at the national level by ensuring complementarily of activities implemented within the SRAP framework.

• To facilitate the sharing of information and expertise.

In Syria the project was implemented in the Syrian steppe (Thlethwat location)

Project Area

3. Project Activities:

a. Identification in collaboration with national focal points and local authorities of the participating communities, institutes, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other parties for the implementation of the project in the selected sites.

b. An initial planning workshop has been held in each pilot site with all partners and stockholders, including community leaders, to agree on work plans for the potential interventions in each of the pilot sites.

c. Agro-ecological and socio-economic characterization of the pilot sites to enhance transferability and compatibility of technologies between pilot and other similar area and assist in designing the interventions.

d. A training course has been conducted to enhance the capacity of participating partners for implementing the recommended interventions, followed up by “on-the-job” training during implementation.

e. Executing awareness raising campaign on the importance and means of combating land degradation, including field days, media programs, and publications.

f. Conduct a study for appropriate policy formulation for enhancing the adoption and adaptation by local communities of intervention options for combating desertification and support the creation of enabling environments for promoting solutions to rehabilitate degraded lands.

g. Conduct an add-hock training course to support the participating countries to carry out the national self-assessment and capacity needs for the tackling desertification and land degradation impacts.

h. During the project implementation period, various actions has been carried out in the different pilot areas for the purpose of range rehabilitation

i. Establish monitoring and evaluation system for land rehabilitation using remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS).

j. A regional technical workshop has been held for sharing and exchanging experiences gained during the implementation of the project.

 

4. Successes:

The project implemented during the period 2003-2006. In addition to program results and positive reflexes in terms of reducing land degradation, improve the quality of vegetation cover productivity and rationalize the use of water. The project also achieved the following results:

a. Improve living conditions of the local population by increasing the productivity of rangeland and provide required water for plant irrigation and animals watering.

b. Identifying successful procedures and appropriate technologies to reduce land degradation.

c. Raise awareness among the public and decision makers about the causes of land degradation and risks to human and natural resources.

d. Improving databases on water resources and vegetation cover.

e. Identify ways and technologies to improve the productivity of rangeland and mountainous areas.

f. Identifying procedures for water harvesting and re-spreading it to prevent soil erosion and improve water use.

Improvement of vegetation cover

5. Lessons learned:

a. It is Possible to rehabilitate the degraded rangeland if the percentage of vegetation cover more than 32% so that it can raise this percentage to 80%

b. The topographic diversity in the area to be rehabilitated is one of the important elements for the application of water harvesting procedures

c. Diamond shape basins and semi-circular arches are the best ways to harvest water at planting forest trees

d. Slight or moderate land degradation can be rehabilitated through protection and little interference

e. The amount of lost soil by water and wind erosion can be reduced applying soil conservation measures and plant and water harvesting.

f. Mountain terraces rehabilitation is one of the important things in the work of soil conservation and improving vegetation.

g. It is observed that the field days and specialized workshops are effective tools to raise awareness towards the processes of desertification and land degradation.

h. It is observed that training of national cadres and activating the participatory approach are essential to the continuity of the work of the project and the sustainability of the positive results.

 

Prepared By:

Sh. Kh