National Meeting for Fighting Desertification [Archives:2000/48/Reportage]

Yemen is one of the countries that suffer from desertification. Studies showed that desertification is creeping on most of the Yemeni land at different rates. Therefore, desertification threatens the main resources for life such as soil, water, vegetation, agricultural land and its negative effects reflect on the agricultural and animal production. This accelerated deterioration of the natural resources stands as an obstacle in front of complete rural development that the economic and social development plans aim at achieving. In this respect, the first national plan for fighting desertification was held in 1992 in cooperation with the Economic and Social Committee of West Asia (ESCWA) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). That plan was considered a principal reference in this field for all international, local and regional organizations. It aims at getting acquainted with the real existing situation and the measures required. This was discussed in a symposium held by the General Administration for Forests and Desertification Fighting in cooperation with the Project of Waterfalls Management and Re-using of Polluted Waters under the sponsorship of Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation during the last week. Many working papers were discussed along with the summary of the new national plan for fighting desertification. The plan aimed at participating in the sustainable development of the country through supporting potentials and societys active participation in projects and programs for fighting desertification. This could happen through the following: preserving and managing the resources of land to secure food security, to improve the economic and social conditions and eliminate poverty, improving the institutional building up, mechanisms, legislative framework to fight desertification effectively, increasing knowledge for fighting desertification, following up and evaluating the effects of desertification and drought.
The plan envisages dealing with and developing 74 sites distributed along coastal, mountainous and desert regions by active involvement of the society and reactivating the role of General Administration of Forests and Desertification Fighting. Eighteen Departments of Forests and Desertification Fighting on the regional level must also be reinvigorated through drawing appropriate policies and legislations, qualifying cadre, providing the work requirements and tools.
The plan also illustrated the program priorities of fighting desertification. It categorized Yemen into regions: the coastal region (Aden, Lahj, Abyan and Hodeida), the desert region (Hadramawt, Al-Mahra, Shabwa, Marib and Al-Gawf), the mountainous region (Taiz, Dhamar, Al-Dhale, Al-Mahweet, Hajja, Al-Baidha, Sanaa, Ibb, Sada, and Amran) and the Yemeni islands region.
Among the priorities of the programs of the Desertification Fighting plan are: selecting priority sites and approving them for fighting desertification in 3 regions (the coastal, desert, and mountainous) in coordination with agricultural offices, authorities, societies suffering from desertification, and the non-governmental associations in the governorates.
The plan takes into account the authorities responsible for fighting desertification: the Agriculture and Irrigation Ministry represented by the General Administration of Forests and Desertification Fighting beside the forests and desertification fighting departments that belong to different agriculture offices and authorities in the regions. It also indicated that coordination and cooperation with all the regional, local, official and international organizations and institutions is important.
For implementing this plan, the financing authorities depend on exploiting local potentials and seeking international support through regional, governmental and international organizations.
To obtainfruitful results, following up and evaluation of the dynamics of the phenomenon must be made. The executive programs and all the social and economic aspects related to these programs must be followed up and evaluated, too.
Among the working papers presented to the meeting was the paper titled Methodology Followed in Modernizing the National Plan for Fighting Desertification and the Importance of Forests and Evolving Natural Resources by Engineer Adel Ali Sallam and Engineer Abdul-Aleem Mohammed Saeed. They focused on the field visits to agriculture offices and authorities in the governorates to: acquaint them with the plan for fighting desertification, to establish national network for fighting desertification, to gather information and researches about desertification, to implement some studies and recommendations made before, to put a general framework for the strategy of fighting desertification. This framework includes a brief geographical and historical account of Yemen, the administrative structure, policies, plans and legislations for the national development.

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