Community involvement stressed to combat desertification

Islamabad : A seminar on ‘Combating Desertification in Pakistan’ under the theme “Land has true value, Invest in it” held at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR), here on Wednesday, to mark the World Day to Combat Desertification for awareness raising and sharing the vision to combat desertification in the country.

The seminar was organised by the PMAS-AAUR Department of Forestry & Range Management in collaboration with Sustainable Land Management Programme (SLMP) and Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC).

Dr. Raja Muhammad Omer, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Forest, Ministry of Climate Change, MoCC was the chief guest while Prof. Dr Sarwat N Mirza, Vice Chancellor PMAS-AAUR was guest of honour at the seminar.

Speakers stressed on the achievement of Land degradation neutrality (LDN) through problem solving, strong community involvement and co-operation at all levels. They focused on measurable value of land beyond its cash value and suggested everyone to play their role to invest in it. They also suggested to adopt smart agriculture practices, conserve water, spend on the organic & fairly trading products and said, “Desertification are caused by the human activities as well as natural phenomena. Even our choices and decisions on what we eat, drink or wear impact the land.”

Addressing at the seminar, Dr. Raja Omer, informed the audience that Ministry is leading the efforts to combat desertification in the country by executing Sustainable Land Management Programme in 14 dry land districts of all four provinces.

He thanked provincial governments and their all aligned departments for taking lead in their respective provinces to fight land degradation and desertification.