Doha: The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MECC) has launched Protected Areas Management Effectiveness (PAME) evaluations programme in Sanayeh, Umm Al Amad, Laareeq, and Al Riffa.
The programme aims to ensure that these areas comply with the international standards approved by the Convention on Biological Diversity from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and in preparation for the preparation of integrated administrative plans for each of them.
It will develop a phased work strategy for protected areas that extends over four years from 2025 to 2028, and includes identifying priorities for intervention in the short and medium term.
The programme also seeks to train the national team responsible for planning and managing protected areas, through its participation in the field assessment process, and specialised workshops at each site, within the relevant technical axes.
This programme comes as part of the efforts of the Natural Reserves Department, which aims to enhance the protection and sustainability of biodiversity, and evaluate the geographical scope of the targeted sites, as well as completing a series of programmes implemented by the reserves department, in a number of natural reserves in the country, including the Reem Reserve and protected areas in Khor Al Adaid and Al Dhakira.
These reserves represent model and pioneering sites for implementing the best international practices in the process of planning, managing and evaluating the effectiveness of protected areas, approved by the Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, in implementation of what is stipulated in the national strategies and relevant global agreements and strategies.
The programme is implemented in two phases. The first phase is Protected Areas Management Effectiveness (PAME) evaluations in each of Sanayeh, Umm Al Amad, Laareeq, Al Riffa and Al Khor.
The second phase is preparing integrated management plans for protected areas.
The work mechanism includes a general analysis of the sites and an initial assessment of the administrative effectiveness of a reserve for each of the areas covered by the programme.
