DOHA: Qatar is committed to allocate adequate resources to combat desertification and to mitigate the effects of drought, said Eng. Ahmed Mohammed Al Sada, Assistant Undersecretary for Environment Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment.

Qatar is also committed to develop strategies and priorities within the framework of sustainable development policies in this context, said Al Sada.

He was speaking at the opening ceremony of a three-day workshop on preparing a national strategy to combat desertification in Qatar, organized by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment in cooperation with United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) yesterday at W Hotel.

Qatar has undertaken several projects, programs and activities to contribute to the fight against desertification and the conservation of plant and land genetic resources, Including the project of listing, describing wild plants in the State, the project of protection of Al Ghaf tree, the project of establishing the field genetic bank and the project of rehabilitation of the Qatari desert.

The development of a national program to combat desertification in Qatar is going on and it is based on sustainable development, said Omar Salem Al Nuaimi, Director of Environmental Protection, Nature Reserves and Wildlife Department at the Ministry.

He said that the program will include measures to protect the land that has not yet been degraded or partially exposed to it, setting plans to combat drought at the local, regional and international levels and developing sustainable irrigation programs.

He said that the workshop will help upgrade standards to make the national strategy to combat desertification, as well as training to develop and prepare the seventh national report of Qatar to combat desertification. The workshop will also touch on formulating the measures and procedures to reduce the potential risk of land degradation, soil erosion and drought in addition to opening the way for sustainable land management practices and options, he added.

Associate Program Officer at UNCCD, Sabine Sakr said this is the first workshop organized by the ministry to discuss the means of combating desertification in the State of Qatar and finding solutions for a more sustainable with less desertification.

She added that desertification and land degradation is a real threat around the world and especially in the Arab world. She said the numbers show the degradation of nearly 70 percent of the agricultural land in the Arab region adding that degradation and desertification are linked to other problems facing the region such as drought, sand and dust storms, climate change and other environmental problems.

Sabine Sakr, said that the key objectives of the workshop include preparing Qatar’s National Strategy to Combat Desertification and preparing the national report in this regard for Qatar to present it to the United Nations.

Sabine Sakr praised the State of Qatar’s initiative of establishing the Global Alliance for Drylands and hosting its headquarters, describing this step as important in combating desertification “not only at the national level but also globally, especially with the aggravation and spread of the problem of desertification.

She pointed out that there are projects for the State of Qatar in this area as well as in other areas aiming at sustainability through the use of land, pasture and water to stop desertification and realize sustainable use of resources.