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The United Arab Emirates plays a pioneering role in supporting and developing saline agriculture techniques as an effective means of combating desertification and restoring degraded lands, especially in light of the challenges posed by climate change and the scarcity of water resources in the Arab world, according to the League of Arab States.
Dr. Mahmoud Fathallah, Director of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Meteorology at the League of Arab States, said. The UAE, along with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, pays great attention to these technologies to contribute to addressing the problems of water scarcity, increasing demand for food, and desertification.
This came during his speech at the opening of the regional workshop, at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, under the title “Saline agriculture as an approach to rehabilitating damaged lands in the Arab world,” which is organized by the G20 Global Initiative to Reduce Land Degradation and Preserve Wild Habitats, also known as the G20 Initiative. The G20 for land reform, based on the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
The five-day workshop is held in cooperation with the League of Arab States, the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, and the Arab Center for Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD).
The training workshop aims to enhance the technical capabilities of the participants by providing a comprehensive overview of the management of saline agriculture as an effective tool to combat desertification and rehabilitate degraded lands. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about the latest research and techniques used in this field, with a focus on practical applications.
The Director of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Meteorology at the League of Arab States added that saline agriculture is one of the unconventional solutions that could revolutionize the field of traditional agriculture, and achieve many advantages, not the least of which is preserving freshwater resources and groundwater reserves and exploiting non-urban coastal areas.