ur first priority has been to end the war and accomplish a political transfer of power. Once this is achieved, our attention must be turned to addressing the environmental crisis and its future challenges. This challenge is as important to the Liberal Party as are other pressing economic, health, and education issues on our agenda. Our goal is to protect and preserve the environment in all its aspects, use it sustainably to achieve human and economic development, and join international efforts to protect and preserve the environment.

Humanity is currently facing many environmental challenges that include climate change, pollution and loss of biodiversity. The Liberal Party intends to join global parties, movements and  forces working to address these challenges. It is a well-known fact that the destruction of the  environment would sooner or later negatively affect local economies. This exacerbates – or contributes to the rise of  – domestic social crises causing conflicts and migration waves that might in turn destabilize national and international orders.

After the political transfer of power in Syria, incumbent governments,  in cooperation with local communities, civil society, the private sector and the international community, would embark on reconstruction. It is necessary to lay down rules for the reconstruction process to address the damage that has already been inflicted on the Syrian environment. Only then would it be possible to pave the way for the achievement of sustainable development that guarantees life in dignity to  all Syrians.

The Liberal Party believes that addressing environmental challenges is a multidimensional process that permeate economic, social and cultural activities.

Our vision with regard to the environment encompasses the following:

On Policy and Legislation:

• Entrust newly established specialized parliamentary committees, supported by consultative councils with preparing environmental legislation. A supreme legal and judicial council will exercise oversight and supervisory tasks and oversee environmental policies and commitments. The council shall enjoy expanded executive powers
• Accede to all environment and climate related international agreements .
• Establish a dedicated ministry for the environment endowed with expanded mandatory powers.
• Every government ministry shall include a department in charge of the environment related aspects of its work. It plays supervisory, oversight and consultative roles.
• Create a network of local and international players to devlop the environmental and related sectors in cooperation with Syria local communities, governments, non-governmental organizations, government institutions and interested companies to develop Syria’s infrastructure and further these objectives.
• Cooperate with neighboring countries on matters related to  the environment, energy and water sectors. This  cooperation  should be founded on shared benefits and mutual interests for all parties involved.
• Engage public and private sectors and trade organizations to develop legal, legislative and executive mechanisms on matters related to the environment.
• Develop legislations to preserve and protect the environment – according to a gradient scheme –  of popular domestic, regional or international  landmarks and nature reserves. These schemes should include UNESCO’s World Heritage sites, mountain peaks, rivers, springs, valleys and agricultural lands.

On Investment:

• Invest in scientific research and environmentally friendly technologies and encourage private sector investment in these schemes.
• Encourage economic and financial investment in environmentally related ventures such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) bonds.
• Support and transform the environmental sector into a tool for investment in tourism.
• Encourage investment in local community tourist sites adjacent to environmentally top rated domestic or global tourist attractions.

Water:

• Build a comprehensive water sector data base.
• Invest in scientific research and environmentally friendly technologies and encourage private sector investment in these schemes.
• Protection of water resources from overexploitation and pollutants.

Energy:

• Build a comprehensive water energy sector data base.
• Promote the use of alternative and renewable sources of energy across various sectors. Our strategic priority would focus on harnessing solar and wind energy.
• Encourage the private sector to invest in and generate power from clean energy sources.
• Encourage the industrial sector, particularly the private sector – regardless of the scale of its operations – to generate the energy it needs and invest in it.
• Encourage decentralization in energy production.
• Modernize the power grid.

Agriculture, Nature and Animal Husbandry:

• Protect forests and green spaces, introduce reforestation programs and declaring forests as nature preserves. Establishing nature preserves in areas where destruction of such zones is likely to affect environmental integrity.
• Encourage reforestation and preservation of the biomass.
• Protection of wildlife, in particular, wildlife native to local areas.
• Apply modern organic farming techniques that use less water than conventional farming.
• Support environmentally sound farming techniques and encourage urban farming.
• Use modern technologies to support environmentally friendly low-water-consumption livestock agriculture.

Urban Planning:

• Curb and reverse urban expansion in arable lands.
• Strive to achieve balanced development across rural areas and cities, as well as among various regions and governorates.
• Promote sustainable building practices and environmentally sound architectural techniques and related infrastructures including transportation systems and sanitation.

Transportation:

• Encourage the public and private sectors to use and invest in environmentally friendly means of transportation including electric and regular bicycles.
• Develop related infrastructures including roads, railroads and ports in partnership with the private sector.

Recycling:

• Set up plans to recycle household and industrial waste and encourage the private sector to invest in recycling schemes.
• Design robust plans to protect the environment from all kinds of pollutants.
• Monitor industrial, commercial and anthropogenic activities to check compliance with environment protection regulations.

Given the significance of environmental issues and the important role they play in cementing civic peace and stability, the de facto powers in different parts of Syria must shoulder their responsibilities towards the environment. Immediate steps must be taken to address, whenever feasible, industrial contamination, environmental degradation, the harm resulting from technologically outdated oil refinery industries and water related questions. Such questions impact all Syrians, and present and future generations alike.