Tehran – Natural Resources and Basin Management Week begins on March 5th with the theme of “Consensus and Empathy for Maintaining Natural Resources.”
March 5th is celebrated annually as National Tree Planting Day by planting seedlings all over the country.
The event was held last month of the Iranian calendar on the 15th day of the Esfund, marking the beginning of the national week of natural resources. In addition, this day is approved to be registered on the national calendar as “Environmental Protection Education Day.”
Ali Teimouri, head of the Natural Resources and Basin Management Agency, said the desert constitutes approximately 32 million hectares of 134 million hectares of natural land nationwide.
He also added that forests and pastures account for 17.5 million hectares and 84 million hectares of natural land, respectively, the IRNA reported.
According to the secretary of the National Policy Planning Headquarters, which dealt with sand and sandstorms, the country’s 2.5 million hectares of dune storm hotspots have been stable over the past six years.
This measure has been adopted in collaboration with other organizations, particularly natural resources and watershed management organizations.
SDS hotspots in the country’s 23 states cover approximately 35 million hectares. They are responsible for generating dust across the country, Isna quoted Ali Mohamad Tahamasbi as saying.
“Khuzestan is one of the most important states where appropriate measures need to be taken to address the issue.
About 52% of the budget allocated for the fight against sand and sandstorms is dedicated to Quezestan province,” the official said.
One important measure at the state headquarters was to stabilise the 120,000 hectares of SDS hotspots southeast of the state, Tamasbi called it an example of cooperation and synergy between the administration and other institutions.
He further emphasized the importance of adopting measurements based on specific circumstances in any region, including soil type, climate, available water resources, and scientific principles for achieving desired outcomes.
Tahammasbi added that leveraging the implemented plans, their strengths and weaknesses, and experience from the capabilities of people, farmers and ranchers will also help to better implement future plans.
Previous measurements
In Iran 1397 (2018-2019), the National Headquarters took measures to identify internal and external sources of the SDSS, followed by an action plan that included assessment of dust damage, establishment of notification guidelines and other software tasks.
In 2022, Iran began consultations with neighboring countries, and the head of the Ministry of the Environment visited Iraq, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE.
In July 2022, Tehran hosts a meeting of ministers and officials from 11 countries, aiming to support cooperation in solving existing environmental issues, particularly sand and sandstorms.
Iraq’s Environment Minister, Armenia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Syria, Qatar, and deputy ministers of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, as well as delegations from Turkey and Uzbekistan attended an event held on the “Theme of Environmental Cooperation”.