Libya: Reversal of Land Degradation and Desertification Through Better Land Management - Combating Desertification in Asia, Africa and the Middle East - page 80

Fig. 4.5 Plantations of Atriplex have been used with success. The green leaves are rich in protein
and provide a useful supplement in late autumn or in drought times, if an energy source such as
straw is available (Photo B.E. Norton)
to forest land where measures such as such as bans on cutting of forests and the
development of the existing forests to increase their productivity, establishment
of nurseries to meet the need for seedling trees, supporting small forest planting,
windbreaks, and protective barriers, as well as meeting the needs of public projects
when establishing new forests. Filling the requirements of afforestation and roadside
plantings are amongst the important efforts. Moreover, determining access rights,
and strict bans on the felling of some forest species, protection from insect damage,
and the organization and regulation of grazing (number of animals, entry and exit
dates) in natural forests are among significant initiatives (Libyan General Planning
Council 2003 ). For reforestation of degraded and deforested areas to compensate
for the past losses, the country has witnessed campaigns of tree planting in the last
decades, including revegetation of most of the desertified and degraded lands for
the purpose of balancing natural ecosystem (Figs. 4.5 .and 4.6 ), land rehabilitation,
establishment of national parks and wildlife reserves to maintain biodiversity and
prevent extinction of rare animals and plants, and issuing legislations and laws for
the protection, development and investment in forests.