Damascus-SANA
Developing plans for the management and afforestation of the sites that were exposed to fires in 2020 was the main focus of the meeting of the Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Eng. Mohamed Hassan Qatna, today with agricultural experts and stakeholders from the United Nations Development Program. The natural vegetation cover in those areas.
Minister Qatana Bein told reporters that the aim of the meeting was to review the advisory contract signed with the United Nations Development Program to assess the reality of the fires that occurred in Syria during the year 2020, and their impact on the natural vegetation cover and mechanisms for its renewal and revival in accordance with the approved global scientific bases.
The meeting, according to Minister Qatna, included a review of all forest policies and strategies, the forestry law, and the procedures followed during the fires period and beyond, in the way of dealing with these sites, what were the encroachments, and how the intervention was made to revive these sites in accordance with the internationally approved regulations.
Minister Qatana pointed out that the course of the meeting is not intended to be an economic forest investment, but rather an environmental development path that aims to meet the needs of the local community, preserve the environment, renew natural plants and preserve forests in those areas.
Minister Qatana stressed that protecting forests is everyone’s responsibility and that the local community has a key role in this aspect, referring to the measures taken by the ministry last year in coordination with the competent authorities to protect forests, which contributed to a significant decrease in the number of fires and rapid intervention in the event of any fire.
Ghosoub Abboud