TEHRAN — Wives of 12 ambassadors to Iran joined “I’m Lake Urmia” campaign, which aims to collect one million signatures required by the United Nation to help restore the lake, Mehr news agency reported.

The campaign was launched in late August in the platform of social media.

Last weekend a group of ambassadors’ wives from Malaysia, New Zealand, Hungary, China, Aljazeera, Tunisia, India, Indonesia, Cuba, the Philippines, Czech Republic, and Sierra Leone took a trip to the lake and joined the campaign to announce their support for the lake. 

The trip was co-organized by Lake Urmia restoration program, Department of Environment, and Foreign Ministry, to improve interaction with countries worldwide, using other countries experience, attracting tourist, and raise funds to save the lake.

Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran was once the largest lake in the Middle East and the sixth-largest saltwater lake on Earth with a surface area of approximately 5,200 square kilometers. The lake has shrunk to 10 percent of its former size mostly due to damming of the rivers that flow into it and pumping of groundwater from the area.

MQ/MG