TEHRAN — Various clean-up and entertaining events are to be held in the coastal cities in northern provinces of Iran to mark the Caspian Sea Day on August 12th, deputy head of Department of the Environment for Marine Affairs Parvin Farshchi said on Tuesday.

The symbolic clean-up festival dubbed “Nature, Art, Rubbish” in Sari, Mazandaran province and “The Little Fish’s Dream” festival in Kordkoy, Golestan province are designed to encourage both local residents and tourists to treat the marine environment more responsibly, ISNA quoted Farshchi as saying.

She added various other events have been planned for local residents including concerts, musical performances, drawing competitions, and kite festivals.

She also said that national cycling champion, Iraj Roghanchi is slated to cycle from Astara, Gilan province to Bandar Torkaman, Golestan province to support the cause.

The most important goal of these festivals is to inform the public about the Tehran Convention and the joint measures taken by the five littoral countries to protect the world’s largest enclosed body of water, Farshchi concluded.

Caspian Sea littoral states’ concerns about the deteriorating condition of the marine environment of the Caspian Sea made them to undertake commitments to protect it in May 1998, Farshchi noted.

In 2003 the Caspian coastal countries agreed to sign a regional convention for protection of the marine environment of the Caspian Sea called “Tehran Convention”, she said.

The convention aimed at preventing and reducing marine pollution, restoring the environment, using the Sea's resources in a sustainable and reasonable manner and boosting cooperation to protect the environment, she noted.

“Tehran Convention” entered into force on August 12th, 2006,” Farshchi said, adding, “This day is being celebrated annually since 2008 in Iran as well as four other coastal countries.”

MQ/OS