Last year, €100 million from National Development Fund was earmarked to SDSs mitigation, however, 50 percent of which was provided, Ali Mohammad Tahmasebi, head of the national working group for SDSs mitigation, said.
He further expressed hope that the proposed budget to be approved and provided.
Over the past three years, actions have been taken in three areas of preventive, reformative and revitalizing, and most of which was done by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Environment., he said.
According to the latest statistics, 34.6 million hectares of lands have been identified for dust generation across Iran, 15 to 20 percent of which are highly active, 25 percent are moderately active, about 60 percent of the sources are slightly active. Sections also concerned the Ministry of Health, Meteorological Organization, Geological Survey, and Mineral Explorations, which was very broad and varied in its importance and scope, he added.
He went on to explain that 27 provinces are dealing with sand and dust storms; prevention measures have been taken like launching a warning system, operational activities including runoff management, dredging and moisturizing the dried wetlands which are SDSs hotspots.
Facilitating the entry of water to restore vegetation in dried areas giving raise to SDSs, including, planting seedlings and saplings, he noted.
Last year a series of actions were defined for rangeland and watershed management, including irrigation and planting, which yielded good results, but a number of tasks such as grazing management were also carried out, which was also effective in addition to low cost, he also explained.
Next year, we will be looking for both highly effective and economical solutions, such as grazing management, and limiting livestock entrance to SDSs hotspots, he stated.
34.6 million ha of land turned into SDSs sources
According to the latest statistics, 34.6 million hectares of land has been identified that generate dust, however, internal sources are less severe than the surrounding external hotspots, Tahmasebi said.
He went on to note that 15 to 20 percent of these hotspots are highly active and 25 percent of which are moderately active, about 60 percent of the sources are slightly active, “so we should definitely be alert to SDSs hotspots with low dust generation to prevent them from the intensity.”
SDSs hotspots are spread across 25 provinces of the country, varying in size from province to province, as 5,000 to nearly 6 million hectares identified in each province, therefore, considering the intensity and dispersal in each province, a ten-year plan must be developed to clarify the actions and implementation period, he suggested.
“We work more on internal hotspots, of course, we started cooperation with IMO to identify external dust sources and hotspots around the country, once the results have been determined, we will try to take action on external hotspots in the context of bilateral and multilateral negotiations and requesting help of international bodies in Iran,” he concluded.
Reference:
