Combating desertification in the Syrian steppe

The Syrian steppe occupies an area of about 16 million hectares, representing 55% of the country. Due to the relatively high average rainfall, the steppe is known as one of the best grazing areas in the Arab world.

This picture, however, has changed in recent years due to the expansion of cultivation and consequent destruction of natural shrubby coverage by tillage.

Dust, dust storms, sand accumulation on roads, railroads, village houses, formation of sand sheets with different thicknesses and sand hummocks around shrubs were the main environmental problems.

It has been estimated that more than one million hectares of the steppe have been affected by wind erosion, causing loss of top soil and sand accumulation.

A project on "Desertification Monitoring and Combating in the Syrian Steppe" has been initiated by the Arab Center of Arid Zones and Dry areas (ACSAD), in collaboration with Germany. The project became operational in 1993. The Syrian Agriculture Ministry is executing the project in cooperation with the General Organization for Remote Sensing.

Many valuable conclusions concerning the dynamics of land degradation processes and the impact in time and space have been provided by the remote sensing and geographic system techniques within the project.