Sand and Dust storms are common phenomena in arid and semi-arid areas. West Asia Region, has been recognized as one of the most important dust source areas in the world. The Technical Meeting on the Regional Programme held in Abu Dhabi recommended establishing a site-to-site network of demonstration projects that will form the basis of combating dust storms at the source areas.
UNEP-IEMP are taking responsibility of identifying source of dusts in West Asia (Iraq, Iran, Syria, Jordan, eastern part of Saud Arabia), preparing a booklet or guide to make the case for utilisation of ecosystem-based approaches to combating dust storms and its applicability to West Asia region with good illustrations of the methodology, sharing experiences and building capacity on combating dust storms.
The article as an initiative effort generated the integrated SDS source areas at a regional scale in West Asia (Syria, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia), with precise geographic position and scope. Having knowledge on the exact SDS source areas and paths, people can ascertain the dust generation and transportation in West Asia.
