TEHRAN — President Hassan Rouhani in a decree on Sunday appointed Isa Kalantari as the vice president and the new chief of the Department of Environment.

Kalantari, 65, served as agriculture minister during the Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani presidency from 1989-97 and the first year of President Mohammad Khatami’s administration from 1997-98.

He replaced Masoumeh Ebtekar who has been appointed as the vice president for women and family affairs in Rouhani’s new administration.
 
Kalantari holds a BSc in agriculture from Urmia University, an MSc in physiology-biochemistry from Iowa State University, and a PhD in agricultural physiology from University of Nebraska. 

He has also served as the advisor to president Rouhani in water, agriculture and environmental affairs. In February 2014, he was appointed as the chairman of a committee tasked with restoration of Lake Urmia. 

Kalantari has openly voiced serious concerns about water scarcity in Iran. He has warned if the current extravagant use of water is not revised millions of people in the country will be forced to migrate.
 
MQ/PA