Syrian Arab Republic - Overview

Status and Trends of Biodiversity

Overview

Syria is situated in the south-west of Asia to the east of the Mediterranean, and is dominated by a Mediterranean climate in its coastal and mountain parts, and by dry or subhumid conditions inland. The national country study on biodiversity (1998) registered 641 species of fungi, 55 bacteria, 754 algae, 10 gymnosperms (8 species are threatened), 3100 angiosperms (330 endemic species), 1439 insects, 452 fishes, 16 amphibians (3 threatened), 127 reptile (31 threatened), 360 birds (15 threatened), and 124 mammals (most are threatened)... More »

Number and Extent of Protected Areas

Syria has declared 23 protected areas, accounting for 1.28% of its total land area.

Percentage of Forest Cover

Forests in Syria cover 461,000 ha, out of which 232840 ha are natural forests.

National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan

Major features of National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan

The National Strategy and Action Plan included environmental considerations to decrease all environmental threats in development projects for the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources. One of the important objectives is the protection of all natural sites in forests and other natural ecosystems. The main indicator used to monitor progress is total protected land, and the objective is to increase the percentage of protected areas from the current 1... More »

Implementation of the Convention

Measures Taken to Achieve the 2010 Target

Concerning the global 2010 target, all the achievements mentioned above are steps towards decreasing the extinction of plant and animal species at the national level. They also provide for the conservation of migratory birds and other animals at international level. There is some work done on the reintroduction of threatened animals and plants such as the re-introduction of the Arabian Oryx and Arabian Gazelle in Al-Talila protected area and the Arabian gazelle in Jabal Abdel Aziz, Althawra and Al- Odama protected areas... More »

Initiatives in Protected Areas

Syria has established 23 protected areas: 5 wetlands, one wildlife, a special Bald Ibis protected area, three coastal and marine protected areas and thirteen forest areas. In addition to these there are 30 rangeland protected areas. The national plan recommended the establishment of a network of national protected areas covering all ecosystems in the country, with three nature protected areas that are being executed with GEF financing (Jabal Abdelaziz, Abu Qubeis and Frunluk... More »

Initiatives for Article 8(j)

Syria recognizes the important role of local communities and their traditional ways of life in preserving biodiversity. It started a small grants project financed by GEF through NGOs to support local populations by creating new opportunities for work and alternative livelihood. This allows local populations to participate in the different stages of project development and management... More »

National Contacts

Full details of national contacts »

Convention on Biological Diversity

Eng. Belal Alhayek	CBD Primary NFP, CHM NFP, SBSTTA NFP
Eng. Mayada Saad	Protected Areas NFP
Eng. Anga Alshlli	ICNP ABS NFP

Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

Eng. Belal Alhayek

Cartagena Protocol Primary NFP, BCH NFP