Workshop on national strategy to combat desertification concludes

DOHA: The first three-day workshop on preparing a national strategy to combat desertification in Qatar, organised by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment in cooperation with United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, concluded.

The workshop touched on the modernised standards to set 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.

UNCCD Associate Programme Officer, Sabine Sakr, presented the themes of the workshop related to writing national strategies, standards, work plans and training. She also urged the specialised staff to apply the updated new standards applicable to land degradation.

In 1977 the United Nations Conference on Desertification (UNCOD) adopted a Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD). The question of how to tackle desertification was still a major concern for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

In December 1992, the General Assembly agreed and adopted resolution 47/188 on this matter. The convention was adopted in Paris on Jun 17, 1994.  Joined by Qatar on January 27, 1999, the convention aims to combat desertification and reduce the impacts of drought.

Qatar’s obligations under the convention includes allocating adequate financial resources to combat desertification and reduce the impacts of drought, according to its circumstances and capacities. The obligations also includes setting strategies and priorities within the framework of sustainable development policies to combat desertification, reduce the impacts of drought, address the root causes of desertification and give special attention to economic factors that contribute to desertification.  In addition to providing a practical environment through strengthening existing relevant legislation, enacting new laws if they do not exist and setting long term work policies and programmes.

Qatar implemented many projects, programmes and activities to combat desertification and conserving plant and wild genetic resources such as project of inventory, collection, characterisation and conservation of wild plants, project to protect the Ghaf plant, the project to establish field genetic bank and rehabilitate the land of Qatar.