Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 9
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Deputy Managing Director of the Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization of Mazandaran Province Sirous Qorban Nejad said that every day 3000 metric tons of garbage is dumped in the forests of northern Iran.
Speaking at a conference on the occasion of Natural Resources Week in Iran, he said that as the result of dumping garbage, soil and water pollution has become rampant in the area, IRNA news agency reported March 9.
Qorban Nejad further stated that his related organization has so far conducted every possible measure of cooperation with other organizations in order to build waste treatment facilities.
"The measures taken, however, have not put an end to the accumulation of waste in forests and more has to be done, because for each hectare of forest filled with garbage, 20 hectares of land down from the area will be ruined," he pointed out.
He noted that every year 570 thousand metric tons of plastic bags are used in Iran, expressing pity that local tourists leave the bags along with some of their content of garbage in green areas and forests.
Iran's Deputy Minister of Agriculture Khodakaram Jalali said March 8 that the country's forests decreased in area by 14 thousand hectares over the past 10 years.
"Iran suffers a loss of one thousand billion dollars due to the desertification of its lands every year," he stated, adding that currently the country's forests stretch over an area of 14 million hectares.
Edited by CN