TEHRAN – The natural resources and watershed management week will start on March 5 with the theme “consensus and empathy for preserving natural resources”.

March 5 is celebrated annually as National Tree Planting Day by planting saplings across the country.

The event is held on the fifteenth day of Esfand, the last month on the Iranian calendar, and it marks the beginning of the National Week of Natural Resources. Also, the day has been approved to be registered on the national calendar as ‘Environmental Protection Education Day’. 

Ali Teymouri, the head of the Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization, has said deserts constitute some 32 million hectares of 134 million hectares of natural land across the country.

Forests and pastures also account for 17.5 million hectares and 84 million hectares of natural land, respectively, he added, IRNA reported.

According to the secretary of the national policymaking headquarters for dealing with sand and dust storms, 2.5 million hectares of sand dust storm hotspots in the country have been stabilized over the past six years.

The measure has been taken in cooperation with other organizations, particularly the Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization. 
SDS hotspots in 23 provinces of the country cover roughly 35 million hectares. They are responsible for generating dust across the country, ISNA quoted Ali-Mohammad Tahmasbi as saying.

“Khuzestan is one of the most important provinces where appropriate measures need to be taken to address the problem.

About 52 percent of the allocated budget for the fight against sand and dust storms is dedicated to Khuzestan province,” the official noted.

Referring to the stabilization of 120,000 hectares of SDS hotspots in the southeast of the province as one of the significant measures of the national headquarters, Tahmasbi called it an example of successful cooperation and synergy between the administration and other institutions.

He further emphasized the significance of adopting measures based on the specific situation of any region such as the type of soil, climate, available water resources as well as scientific principles to achieve the desired results.

Utilizing experiences from implemented plans, their strengths and weaknesses, and the capacity of people, farmers, and ranchers can also help implement future plans more successfully, Tahmasbi added.

Previous measures

In the Iranian year 1397 (2018-2019), the national headquarters took action to identify the internal and external sources of SDSs and subsequently implemented action plans, including the assessment of dust damages, establishment of notification guidelines, and other software tasks.

In 2022, Iran started consulting with neighboring countries, and the head of the Department of Environment paid visits to Iraq, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait, and the UAE.

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.”