Under the patronage of the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (MAAR) and in cooperation with the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment (MLAE) and Birdlife International regional office, the Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife (SSCW) held a consultative workshop at the Arab Cultural Center – Damascus. Presentations on the Egyptian Vulture status at the national and regional levels were presented followed by the role of SSCW in protecting the Egyptian Vulture to meet the commitments towards the environmental Agreements with the leading role of the MLAE. The protection of the Egyptian Vulture is the subject of a recently started cooperative project led by BSPB in the Balkans and partnership with Birdlife International in the Middle East and Africa to carry out conservation and awareness work in 14 countries on three continents.

SSCW has participated in an event that was organized by the Environment Department of Damascus City Governorate at Ministry of State for Environment Affairs (MSEA) on the occasion of the International Day of Environment that is celebrated annually on June 5^th.

The event was under the patronage of H.E Dr. Nazira Sarkis Minister of State for Environment Affairs under the theme” Illegal Trade of Endangered Wildlife Species“. H.E Dr. Sarkis addressed the attendees and focused on the negative impact of illegal trade of wildlife on the ecosystems and described the importance of dealing with illegal trade and highlighted the various efforts and legal and regulatory measurements exercised by MSEA and other Syrian agencies as well as other concerned parties and NGOs in this respect.

During the event, SSCW has delivered a presentation focused on the definition of illegal trade of wildlife and wildlife trafficking, its risks and threats to wildlife and natural resources. Furthermore, the presentation highlighted SSCW activities related to combating wildlife illegal trading through joint efforts with governmental authorities and civil communities aiming at increasing awareness about illegal trade as well as supporting government for monitoring and surveying markets of wildlife and capacity building for surveying and training. Other governmental participants and concerned NGOs have also made other presentations related to other environmental topics as well as the issue of combating illegal trade of wildlife. The event was concluded by a general discussion session that resulted in suitable recommendations relating to use all efforts to highlight the importance of combatting illegal trading in due time.

The Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife (SSCW) held, under the patronage of the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs, and in cooperation with the Migratory Soaring Birds project (MSB), a workshop entitled: “Let’s Make Energy Projects friendly to Nature, the Environment and birds “. The workshop was held in the Shami Hall, the National Museum of Damascus on Monday 11 May 2015, on the occasion of the World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) that is celebrated under the theme “Energy: make it friendly to birds“. It aims to highlight the importance of exploiting energy technologies in a manner that prevents their impacts on migratory birds.

Participants in this workshop, discussed national plans for developing renewable energy projects, national environmental laws and legislations, instructions for establishing energy projects and proposed sites for establishing wind farms and other renewable energy projects in the Syrian investment map.  The risks from energy facilities located on the path of bird migration were highlighted and the adoption of environmental sensitivity maps for establishing these facilities was stressed upon. In addition, the adoption of approved international standards on establishing Wind and solar energy farms and construction of power transmission lines was also discussed.

Under the patronage of H.E Dr. Nazira Sarkis the Minister of State for Environmental Affairs, Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife (SSCW) and in cooperation with the Migratory Soaring Bird Project held a celebratory event for the World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) under the title: (Networking of Activities at Bottleneck sites & Migratory Birds) Latakia,  10/11/2013.

Over forty representatives from different governmental and non-governmental institutions participated in this event. The Ministry of State for Environment Affairs (MSEA), Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (MAAR), Ministry of Tourism(MoT), Ministry of Interior Affairs (MoIA), Environmental NGOs from Latakia and Tartous were represented at this event. Furthermore,  representatives of the local community, peasants and hunters who can play a vital role in protecting the Migratory birds in the area, the only bottle neck site in Slenfeh – Latakia, were also among the attendees.

The workshop concluded in a session of discussion resulting in a series of recommendations at the Hunting and Agriculture Sectors as follows:

Recommendations in Hunting sector:

1 . Support establishing hunters` clubs in Syria depending on the modern law and encourage participation in regional initiatives like the regional meeting of responsible hunters in Beirut / December 2013.

2 . Concentrate on importance of documenting the process of punishing irregular hunting and legal actions that are supposed to be taken, and generalize it within the sector .

3 . Support engaging universities and scientific centres through launching scientific programs in the field of hunting, and move from documenting these studies toward required fields where knowledge gaps exist.

4 . Focus on the importance of issuing (the modern hunting law) and adopting the draft of the Action Plan of the transitional phase toward the modern law that is presented by SSCW after approving this draft by MAAR .

5. Set national red lists of Syrian fauna and start this procedure by setting (the national red list of birds in Syria).

6. Integrate the twenty five Important Bird Areas (IBA’s), which are adopted by the study of BirdLife International` in 1994, on the national environmental map as one of the environmental important areas . And re- achieve a comprehensive study of these areas to define its real impact when conditions allow this.

7 . Document case studies of hunting and its different methods in Syria within researches and specialized studies and generalize their results.

8. Emphasize the importance of gender in influencing hunters to support sustainable hunting practices.

9. Welcome the governmental plans to join the Raptors MoU under the International Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) .

10. Release a national monitoring program of birds` markets in major cities to pursue trade of living and dead birds in these markets systematically according to the forms approved by BirdLife International/ MSB project for this purpose.

11. Emphasize the importance of the role of media and raising awareness` programs to support sustainable hunting practices.

12. Observe the issues of hunting weapons and gunshots used for hunting as well as the use of fire guns in illegal hunting in the draft of the modern hunting law.

13. Distribute the final hunting report that SSCW is preparing currently in cooperation with the MSB project in BirdLife International on hunting sector impact on MSBs to the specialized national parties to use it in supporting future orientation of regulating hunting sector in Syria.

Recommendations in Agriculture sector:

1. Prepare a list of pesticides used in Syria, which are listed in Rotterdam Convention (PIC), and send it to Birdlife International- MSB project to check pesticides that threaten birds in order to suggest a list of replacements for the dangerous ones by MSB project.

2. Documenting case studies of agriculture sector and its impact on migratory soaring birds within researches and specialized studies and distribute their results.

 
3. Support engaging universities and scientific centers through launching scientific programs in the field of agriculture and its impact on migratory soaring birds, and move from documenting these studies toward  required fields where knowledge gaps exist.

 
4. Emphasize the importance of the human element (male and female) in effecting agricultural practices that have negative impact on migratory soaring birds.

5. Distribute the final Agriculture report that SSCW is preparing currently in cooperation with the MSB project in BirdLife International on agriculture sector impact on MSBs to the specialized national parties to use it in supporting future orientations to integrating the protection of migratory soaring birds with the agricultural field.

 
6. Integrate concepts of protecting migratory soaring birds in the EIA system in the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs (MSEA).

Under the patronage of Mr. Ahmad Fateh Al-Qadiri, the Minister of Agriculture & Agrarian Reform (MAAR), the Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife organized a one-day workshop about the Status of Northern Bald Ibis and Sociable Lapwing in Syria during 2013 at the Ministry Meeting Hall in Damascus on Sunday, May 19, 2013.

Speakers at the workshop who are bird specialists and representatives of national institutions involved in protecting birds and hunting regulation have discussed the latest about the NBI in Palmyra and also the situation of the Sociable Lapwing that wan not surveyed this spring at the badia of Raqqa, Deir Ezzor and Palmyra, due the current situation. The participants also discussed the latest in the development of the steps taken to reach a modern version of the Hunting Law within the Higher Council for Hunting (HCH) and the roles of all stakeholders in the process and the key role that SSCW is taking in this process.