TEHRAN – “A number of 2 billion tons of soil are destroyed per year in the country,” head of Iran Forestry Association said here on Tuesday, adding that “Iran has the highest rate of soil erosion in the world.” Iran, covering 1.2% of the land surface of the earth, accounts for about 7.7% of the earth soil erosion, Kazem Nosrati said.

Soil loss, and its associated impacts, is one of the most important of today's environmental problems, Nosrati said, blaming unsustainable use and management of land resources for such a great erosion in Iran.
Human activities, such as heavy grazing or unsuitable cultivation practices and destruction of the forests, leave the country’s land unprotected and vulnerable and remove vegetation from an area, which makes the soil easily eroded during the rainfall or windstorms, Nosrati said, calling for the betterment of land resources’ management to curb erosion