Dust storms threaten the safety of millions of people

According to Fars news agency’s community group, Samia Rafiei, the head of the environmental faction of the Islamic Council, said at the 20th Assembly of Representatives of Asia-Pacific Parliaments on Environment and Development (APPCED) that the Parliamentary delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of those interested in cooperation and interaction with other countries. In the 20th General Assembly of the Conference of Representatives of Asia-Pacific Parliaments on Environment and Development (APPCED), it tries to play a constructive and positive role in the upcoming discussions while supporting such interactions.

He stated: Environment and development as two basic and important pillars of sustainable development cover various aspects of human life and countries are bound to pay attention to them and observe the balance between them in the path of their growth and excellence.

Rafiei continued: The importance of this issue is to the extent that neglecting them and not complying with the relevant standards will cause heavy losses and damages to both sectors and will severely affect not only the primary societies but also other nations and neighboring countries.

The head of the environment faction of the Islamic Council emphasized that in the field of the environment, the Islamic Republic of Iran has so far taken effective measures in the field of determining and approving the standards and criteria necessary to protect the environment in various sectors such as weather and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the sectors industrial, household and transportation, he added: the clean air law is one of the important achievements of the Iranian parliament in this field, according to which all government institutions as well as the private sector are obliged to reduce and save energy consumption, improve the quality of fuels consumption and improvement of energy efficiency.

He said: In this regard, the parliament and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran should develop and expand the use of new and renewable energies by guaranteeing the purchase of produced electricity, granting low-interest loans to those interested in investing and setting up new and renewable energy production units, and considering economic incentives and Besides making new energies competitive compared to traditional energies, Mali has paid attention to expanding the use of these energies.

The head of the environmental faction of the Islamic Parliament stated: However, the success rate is not as much as the predictions and there are big challenges on the way to success in this field, the most important of which is the existence of cruel sanctions and the prohibition of Iranian companies’ access to new technologies and foreign financial resources. And technical knowledge is the issue, while the Islamic Republic of Iran, as a member of the global family, always adheres to and is obliged to comply with international obligations in the field of environment.

He added: In this regard, the Islamic Republic of Iran is closely following the sixth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and expresses its concern about its findings.

The head of the environmental faction of the parliament noted: In this regard, the Islamic Republic of Iran, while recalling the importance of the technical findings of this report, emphasizes that these findings should provide the basis for the interaction and cooperation of more countries to deal with the problems of the international community in this field, not that it causes actions More pressure and oppression of one group of countries on another part of the international community.

According to him, the world needs more cooperation and interaction to get out of the current situation. Naturally, those parts of the world that have better and more access to financial resources and new and environmentally friendly technologies should help solve the challenges facing the global community with a positive approach.

The head of the parliament’s environmental faction said: On the other hand, air pollution is affected by many factors, which do not only include the emission of carbon monoxide and other industrial pollutants. Today, the phenomenon of dust storms is about to become a global problem that has endangered the human health, food security and economic development of millions of people in important parts of the world. Dealing with these storms is not only within the responsibility and capability of a few countries, and it is necessary to think of regional and global planning and measures for it.

He emphasized: The Islamic Republic of Iran, as one of the victims of this dangerous phenomenon in West Asia, has tried to draw the attention of the world community to this important problem by proposing and pursuing this issue.

According to Rafiei, the approval of numerous resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly since 2015 and the holding of two conferences of environment ministers focusing on this problem are only part of the Islamic Republic’s efforts to attract the world community to this dangerous phenomenon.

He said: The Islamic Republic of Iran is also observing, based on the resolution approved by the United Nations General Assembly in July 2022, in cooperation with environmental institutions and organizations affiliated to the United Nations, another international conference to deal with dust storms in Tehran during the 18th and 19 Shahrivar (September 9 and 10, 2023), for this purpose, all countries affected by this phenomenon, as well as interested and helping countries, are invited to participate in it.

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