Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 17
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
The Iranian Department of Environment (DOE) within the President's Office currently suffers from lack of funds and human resources, an Iranian environmental official told Trend.
The DOE deputy head, Esmail Kahrom, said that 80-85 percent of
desertification in Iran is due to dying forests, and lack of funds and human resources prevent the department from taking proper measures to protect the forests.
"DOE and Iran's Forests, Range, and Watershed Management Organization are the poorest organizations, in terms of budget," Kahrom said, adding that the rate of desertification in the country is very high.
Mentioning the NASA report on Iran losing about 1-1,5 percent of its forests annually, Kahrom said that unauthorized pasturage of livestock also contributes to disappearance of forests.
"Smuggling of wood, unauthorized cut downs, wildfires as well as unauthorized pasturage of livestock are the main reasons," he said.
ISNA News Agency reported Nov. 14 citing Iran Forests, Range, and Watershed Management Organization official Abbas Kargar that some seven million hectares of land in Iran can dry out.
Addressing an environmental conference on Nov. 15, Kargar called for people's cooperation, and said the entire problem cannot be resolved with only state's budget.
He specifically said that despite the low level of rain and snow falls in Iran, more than 2.5 million hectares of land was saved.
In June 2015, Razieh Lak, an Iranian official with the Geological Survey and Mineral Explorations Organization said that Iran is the source of 15 percent of dust storms in the world.
Military conflicts in the region and unused farmlands have caused the flow of dust storms from Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia toward Iran, a country where about 20 percent of Iran's total area of 164 million hectares lies in desert.
A recent study conducted by the NASA predicts that one third of the Earth, including Iran, will suffer from severe droughts. Considering Iran's drying lands and lack of both financial and human resources, the issue is considered one of the most important ones for the ruling government.