DOHA: The Minister of Environment HE Ahmed Amer Mohamed Al Humaidi has issued a decision extending the prohibition on grazing in all areas in the country for a period of two years effective from today.
Grazing was banned in Qatar through a ministerial decision (No 95) issued on August 23 in 2011.
The Ministry said yesterday that the decision extending the ban was prompted by its positive results on wildlife and to protect trees, wild plants and vegetation until they complete their flourishing. The Ministry called on owners of gardens to abide by this rule to preserve the environment and wildlife and warned of legal action against those violating the ban.
The Ministry earlier conducted two studies on the impact of the grazing ban on vegetation in Qatar, which said that the ban was intended to halt the destruction of pastures caused by overgrazing, to protect soil erosion, restore biodiversity and allow plants to complete their life cycle and reproduction.
The studies also recommended the need to adopt modern scientific methods of measurement to make decisions and assess the current and future status of vegetation in Qatar and its natural resources.
The recommendations included fixing timings for opening pasture lands for animal grazing based on the optimum grazing capacity of wild lands as well as develop such lands to the best environmentally-stable condition.
The Peninsula
