BAHRAIN is taking strong measures to combat desertification following its loss of agricultural land to development projects, it emerged yesterday.

"We have been losing agricultural land for the last 30 years due to development," Municipalities and Agriculture Ministry Under-Secretary for Agriculture Kadhem Hashim Al Hashimi told the GDN.

"We are taking lot of efforts to reduce the use of agricultural land for development, but we realise that it is not always possible to block it from being developed."

Mr Al Hashimi said 70 per cent of the land was being preserved and the other 30pc had been given over for development projects.

To bolster efforts to retain the land for agriculture, the ministry is encouraging investment in environment projects and providing the public with trees for their garden.

The Works and Housing Ministry is working on a sewage effluent treatment project to provide recycled water, instead of ground water, for use on agricultural land and landscaping developments, he added.

"It is one of the major projects to combat desertification and will quadruple the water resources currently available," noted Mr Al Hashimi.

"At the moment the project enabled 15 million cubic metres of treated water to be produced annually but by early next year the production will be increased to 73m cubic metres.

"We hope this and other statutory measures to limit the use of agricultural land will help combat desertification."

Mr Al Hashimi was speaking on the sidelines of a celebration to mark World Day to Combat Desertification, which was held at the Crowne Plaza yesterday.

Environmentalists, decision-makers and others at the event were also addressed by Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife vice-president Professor Dr Ismail Al Madani, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) regional office for West Asia director and regional representative Dr Habib El Habr, and Arab Centre for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands director-general Professor Dr Farouk Fares.

The UNEP celebration was held under the patronage of Southern Governor and Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife president Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

The day is celebrated globally every year on June 17 to highlight the urgent need to curb the process of desertification and strengthen visibility of the dry lands issue on the international environmental agenda.

This year's theme, Desertification and Climate Change - One Global Challenge, has been chosen to reflect the theme of the World Environment Day, which focused on climate change as a global environmental issue.