INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
regional summit on combating sand and dust storms last year.The meeting was attended by ministers and representatives of regional countries
and six international agencies, and its final statement was approved as the Tehran Declaration.Hossein Mousavifar, an official with the
Department of Environment, told IRNA that the participating countries were obliged to create an environmental fund and organization in
regional organization has made good progress, and is almost at the final stage, the official noted.On November 17, 2015, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, announced the general policies on the environment, emphasizing the need for comprehensive,
harmonious, and organized management of vital resources based on ecological capability and sustainability, particularly by increasing
capacities and appropriate legal and structural capabilities accompanied by public participation.President Ebrahim Raisi has highlighted the
importance of environmental protection, emphasizing that the preservation of the environment is prior to every development.Environmental
protection will lead to power, security, investment, and production growth in the country, he said.Both people and NGOs have an effective
role to play in the protection of the environment, and they should be given a chance to play their role, he added.The Department of
Environment will hold five international meetings in the current Iranian calendar year that started on March 21, DOE chief Ali Salajeqeh
headquarters for policymaking and controlling dust storms have been held and the results of these meetings should be evaluated and made
public, he stressed.In February, Salajeqeh said that based on the successful experiences of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the field of
combating sand and dust storms, the United Nations introduced Iran as the host of the international conference on combating sand and dust
storms, IRIB reported.Arrangements have been made with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in July, this meeting will be held in Tehran with
the presence of the environment ministers of the world countries, Salajeqeh said.In the field of diplomacy, the Department of Environment
has held meetings with neighboring countries to the extent that Egypt has also announced its readiness to attend the Tehran meeting, he
highlighted.He pointed out that a delegation from Iran will travel to Iraq in the near future to discuss the issue of sand and dust storms
in order to make decisions to deal with the problem.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
inevitable priority.Raisi had earlier obliged the Department of Environment to diligently pursue the solution of sand and dust storms
environment, which is a global concern, especially for countries of the region, is an inevitable priority today
If the environment is not safe and peaceful for people, the development will not be in its proper place and it will even become a threat to
provinces.According to studies, eight large sand and dust storm hotspots stretching to 270 million hectares in neighboring and Persian Gulf
countries are affecting Iran.Regional maps show that Saudi Arabia produces the highest level of particulate matter, followed by Iraq, Syria,
Kuwait, and the UAE, respectively.According to experts, natural and human factors are involved in the occurrence and severity of this
phenomenon which is mainly caused by excessive consumption of water and drying up reservoirs.To deal with sand and dust storms, positive
measures have been taken inside the country.A ten-year plan has been prepared to curb internal sources of sand and dust storms.The internal
dust sources are estimated at 34.6 million hectares, generating an average amount of 4.22 million tons of dust per year, about 1.460 million
good results, but it seems that the annual credit is declining as conditions improve.Letizia Rossano, the director of the Asian and Pacific
Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM), said in June 2022 that Iran is really at the forefront of
understanding the problem of sand and dust storms as well as dealing with it.More than 80 percent of the entire populations of Turkmenistan,
Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and the Islamic Republic of Iran are exposed to medium and high levels of poor air quality due to sand and
