TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that capitalism is the main factor contributing to environmental destruction.

Ahmadinejad made the remarks in Tehran on Saturday in an address to the International Forum for Wetlands, which is being held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the ratification of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
According to the official website of the secretariat for the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, called the Ramsar Convention, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. 
The convention was developed and adopted by participating nations at a meeting in the Iranian city of Ramsar on February 2, 1971, and came into force on December 21, 1975.
Ahmadinejad said that three factors are contributing to the destruction of the environment of the entire world.
These factors are lack of knowledge about environmental issues, lack of appropriate and binding environmental regulations to prevent encroachment on natural resources, and most importantly, the projects and plans implemented by the capitalist world, he stated.
“Many capitalists have amassed fortunes through selling nature and (trading in) people’s health. If the industries in certain countries decide to meet environmental standards, the continuation of their activities will become economically unjustifiable,” he said.
“The greedy attitude of capitalism lays the foundation for overstepping all boundaries to capture all the Earth’s resources,” he noted.
He went on to say that if countries want to restore the balance of the ecosystem, they should take a number of measures.
First of all, governments should try to increase public awareness about environmental destruction and its negative impact on human life, and secondly, the necessary regulations appropriate for various parts of the world should be introduced and the industrial infrastructure should be reformed, he said.
Ahmadinejad added that the third solution is to replace the capitalist system with Islamic ideology, which attaches great importance to respecting and safeguarding the environment.
The president also said that the Iranian government fully supports every effort and measure for the protection of the environment.
In conclusion, Ahmadinejad expressed hope that during the forum, the participating countries would be able to formulate new regulations to curb environmental destruction, saying, “The siege of those (countries and people) that destroy the environment should become tighter.”
On the sidelines of the forum, Ahmadinejad unveiled a special stamp commemorating the International Forum for Wetlands.
A number of ministers, deputy ministers, ambassadors, and senior officials of foreign environmental protection organizations from 50 countries attended the International Forum for Wetlands.
The second and last session of the forum will be held in Ramsar later today.