Oman encourages communities to protect environment

Muscat: Represented by the Environment Authority, the Sultanate of Oman yesterday joined other countries in celebrating World Environment Day, which falls on 5 June every year.

Under the motto of “Our Land, Our Future”, the event this year focuses on restoring lands, resisting desertification and building drought resistance strategies.

The celebration seeks to raise awareness about environmental issues, encourage communities to protect the environment and strengthen environmental policies at the local, national and international levels.

The event also lays emphasis on engaging young people in environmental activities and activating international cooperation between countries to address global environmental challenges.

World Environment Day, which stems from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), constitutes the largest global platform for public awareness about the environment.

It is celebrated by millions of people around the world. This year (2024), the event is hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Environment Authority is making efforts to develop plans and programmes and launch initiatives to combat desertification and land degradation in order to mitigate this phenomenon. It also launched in 2020 the national initiative to plant 10 million trees to increase the green area in the Sultanate of Oman, mitigate the phenomenon of desertification and restoration of degraded lands. .

The Authority has established many nurseries for planting wild trees in all governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, the most important of which is the Green Belt nurseries in the Dhofar Governorate, in addition to awareness campaigns targeting members of society and encouraging farming and the importance of preserving green spaces.

The Sultanate of Oman has prepared the national plan to combat desertification and it is updated every 10 years.

The first national plan to combat desertification was prepared in 2005, and work is currently underway to prepare the national plan 2018-2030, in addition to preparing the national plan to combat drought, and work is underway to review it with the Arab Organization for Development.