Ministers and senior level officials of meteorology departments in Arab countries and international environmental experts are participating in the six-day conference.
“The ministerial meeting is expected to draft a resolution on the unification of strategies governing drought policies in Arab countries. The strategy will focus on a system of rationalized water consumption and intensification of tree planting, especially in regions prone to sandstorms,” Vice-President of Meteorological Affairs at the National Center for Meteorology and Environment Saad Muhlafi, who is also chairman of the Arab Permanent Committee for Meteorology, told Arab News on Saturday.
A major topic of the discussion in the meeting is the setting up of a commission to monitor droughts and prepare an early warning system, Muhlafi said.
Saudi Arabia, Gulf countries, Iraq, and the eastern part of Syria are regions that frequently suffer severe drought conditions, he said.
He added that the increasingly falling levels of rainfall in these countries has resulted in a considerable fall in green areas, which in turn dries up water sources and reduces agricultural and animal farming and other natural resources affecting the economy and social life.
He said the frequent sandstorms accompanying drought conditions also affect the transportation, agriculture and people’s health in the region.
The meeting is convened in the backdrop of increasing concern about natural disasters and extreme weather conditions such as floods and droughts in the region.
“The meeting also aims to lay down the infrastructure to enable Arab countries to keep pace with international developments in meteorological and climatic services so that Arab citizens get better services and Arab countries can develop better developmental strategies,” Muhlafi said.
On Saturday, a preparatory meeting of the ministerial meeting was held in Jeddah. Arab League officials, permanent representatives of Arab countries in the World Meteorology Organization, members of the Permanent Arab Committee for Meteorology and heads of meteorology departments in the Arab countries participated in the preparatory meeting.
The meeting finalized the agenda for the ministerial meeting and reviewed the present condition of weather forecast services in the Arab world. The meeting also discussed international and regional decisions on weather prediction services and projects to improve the capacity and framework of weather forecast services as well as national strategies for droughts.
