Damascus-SANA
The head of the Soil Protection Department at the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment, Eng. Imad Al-Marei, confirmed that the rate of implementation of strategies to treat soil pollution has reached 70 percent, indicating that the last phase of it will be completed this year and can be extended if needed.
Since 2018, Syria has started preparing the necessary strategies to address soil pollution, using national indicators of land degradation and desertification, in a way that contributes to achieving national goals to neutralize land degradation and sustainable development goals.
The first phase of work according to Al-Marai included conducting an assessment of the legislation and laws related to land resources, identifying the gaps and obstacles to their application and activating them to develop national policies, laws and strategies related to the protection of land resources, documenting professional partnership with national authorities, civil society organizations, the private sector and relevant international organizations operating in Syria, and enhancing public awareness. Addressing the problem of land degradation and desertification, introducing the national program to neutralize the effects of land degradation and spreading sustainable land management practices.
The head of the Soil Protection Department pointed to capacity building for the sub-working team in the directorates of environment and agriculture in Homs and Hama and the branch of the General Authority for the Development and Protection of the Badia in the central region, and the establishment of 8 training courses and workshops for the central team in the ministry and the districts of Homs and Hama, during which they were briefed on statistical analysis programs and how to study the cover The method of taking the necessary information for the forms for analyzing the economic and social status of the population in the targeted areas to know their relationship to the existing areas as they are a natural resource and source of income for them.
Al-Marei indicated that samples were collected from polluted soils in different cities, and the results of collecting samples in Homs and Hama are currently being analyzed because they are suspected to be polluted, in addition to analyzing satellite images that were taken of other areas suspected of contamination.
According to Al-Marei, the next phase of the project will focus on field workshops in the coastal region and a workshop in the central region to present best practices and possible solutions to reduce land degradation in Syria to identify the most polluted areas to formulate the optimal strategy for the solution.
Marei pointed to the role of soil pollution treatment strategies in reducing the impact of drought and improper management of natural resources on the soil.
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