TEHRAN – Ali Salajeqeh, the head of the Department of Environment, and Askhat Orazbay, the ambassador of Kazakhstan, met in Tehran on Tuesday to enhance relations in the field of environment.

The Islamic Republic of Iran pursues the policy of developing relations with friendly, neighboring, and Muslim countries in order to strengthen environmental diplomacy, Salajeqeh said, IRNA reported.

“We hope that good relations with Kazakhstan will develop in various fields,” he added, referring to cultural and religious commonalities between the two countries.

He also talked about the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea, named the Tehran Convention, as a treaty between the five coastal countries, stressing that the convention has not had a great achievement so far.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the official touched on the inappropriate situation of the Caspian Sea environment, saying that the inflow of water has decreased while the pollutant concentration has increased.

He called for the coastal countries to boost cooperation to address these problems.

Salajeqeh said the Seventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea, known as COP 7, will be held in Tehran.

Pointing out climate change all over the world and its consequences, he referred to the occurrence of dust storms as one of the most important consequences.

“This problem should be resolved at the international level and by concluding memorandums of understanding.”

July 12 has been named as International Day of Combating Sand and Dust Storms by the UN general assembly.

Iran will host the international conference on dust management on September 9-10. 

At least 60 high-ranking officials are expected to attend the event.

Salajeqeh invited Kazakhstan’s ambassador and the country’s department of environment chief to participate in the conference.

Orazbay, for his part, said the problem of dust storms is also a big challenge for Kazakhstan.

He regarded the Tehran conference as an opportunity to figure out the best solutions to deal with the problem.

Orazbay said the Caspian Sea is a shared heritage of the coastal countries. So, members of the Tehran Convention need to cooperate to handle the environmental challenges.

Tehran Convention

In 2003, the Caspian Sea littoral states, comprising the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, and Turkmenistan, signed the (Tehran) Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea.

Following ratification by all five Governments of the Caspian littoral states, the Tehran Convention entered into force on the 12th of August 2006.

The objective of this Convention is the protection of the Caspian environment from all sources of pollution including the protection, preservation, restoration, and sustainable and rational use of the biological resources of the Caspian Sea.

The Tehran Convention serves as an umbrella legal instrument that not only aims at protecting the Caspian environment from all sources of pollution but also targets the preservation, restoration, and protection of the Caspian Sea species and habitats.

The Convention includes provisions on the sustainable and rational use of living resources of the Caspian Sea, environmental impact assessment and environmental monitoring, as well as research and development.

Environmental diplomacy

The Department of Environment will hold five international meetings in the current Iranian calendar year that started on March 21, Salajeqeh said in April.

“At least five international meetings will be held this year, one of which is the conference on combating sand and dust storms,” he added, IRNA reported.

One of the approvals of the regional meeting of environment ministers, which was held in Iran last summer, was the establishment of a regional dust organization, he highlighted.

“Environmental diplomacy is the main priority for the country's political diplomacy, so holding the conference on combating sand and dust storms is important for us.”

So far, 11 meetings of the national headquarters for policymaking and controlling dust storms have been held and the results of these meetings should be evaluated and made public, he stressed.

In July 2022, Tehran played host to a conference of ministers and officials from 11 countries, aiming to boost cooperation for resolving extant environmental problems, especially sand and dust storms.

Environment ministers of Iraq, Armenia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Syria, and Qatar, as well as deputy ministers of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan along with delegations from Turkey and Uzbekistan, participated in the event which was held with the theme of “Environmental Cooperation for a Better Future.”

Addressing the opening ceremony, President Ebrahim Raisi emphasized that the preservation of the environment is essential and an inevitable priority.

Raisi had earlier obliged the Department of Environment to diligently pursue the solution of sand and dust storms through diplomacy and international forums, as well as interaction with neighboring countries.

“Conservation of the ecosystem and environment, which is a global concern, especially for countries of the region, is an inevitable priority today. If the environment is not safe and peaceful for people, the development will not be in its proper place and it will even become a threat to human health,” Raisi stated.

SDS plague

The SDS phenomenon has been plaguing the country for several years and has caused problems in many provinces.

According to studies, eight large sand and dust storm hotspots stretching to 270 million hectares in neighboring and Persian Gulf countries are affecting Iran.

Regional maps show that Saudi Arabia produces the highest level of particulate matter, followed by Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, and the UAE, respectively.

According to experts, natural and human factors are involved in the occurrence and severity of this phenomenon which is mainly caused by excessive consumption of water and drying up reservoirs.

To deal with sand and dust storms, positive measures have been taken inside the country.

A ten-year plan has been prepared to curb internal sources of sand and dust storms.

The internal dust sources are estimated at 34.6 million hectares, generating an average amount of 4.22 million tons of dust per year, about 1.460 million hectares are dried wetlands.

In recent years, about €370 million has been spent by the National Development Fund to combat SDSs, which had good results, but it seems that the annual credit is declining as conditions improve.

Letizia Rossano, the director of the Asian and Pacific Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM), said in June 2022 that Iran is really at the forefront of understanding the problem of sand and dust storms as well as dealing with it.

More than 80 percent of the entire populations of Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and the Islamic Republic of Iran are exposed to medium and high levels of poor air quality due to sand and dust storms," she noted.

MG