FAO Representative: Half of Iranians wrestling with draught consequences

FAO representative in Iran say desertification and drought adversely affects about half of the country’s population. The effects of desertification are extremely serious and often dramatic for the poor population, AVA Diplomatic reports.In speech delivered at the “World Day to Combat Desertification”, Noureddin Mona said most of the parts in Iran are covered by arid and semi-arid lands in which the average annual rainfall is less than 250 mm. The net result is a lack of opportunity for the vegetation to develop and a decrease in the biological productivity of agricultural lands and natural vegetation.

The effects of desertification are extremely serious and often dramatic for the poor populations of developing countries in the whole globe as it influences productivity, biodiversity and food security negatively.

“The goal of the 2013 World Day to Combat Desertification is to create awareness about the risks of drought and water scarcity in the dry lands and beyond, calling attention to the importance of sustaining healthy soils,” he said.

According to Mona, FAO deals with the issue of desertification drought and water scarcity in accordance to “Strategic Objectives 5: Increase the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises”. Iran is among countries of the Near East and North Africa region which water scarcity is the single most important challenge in their strategies to achieve food security and promote sustainable economic development.

He said FAO Regional Office for the Near East has recently launched a “Water Scarcity Initiative” to support the countries in the region in identifying strategies, policies and practices that promote sustainable solutions to water scarcity and food security problems.

“Among measures taken by the Iranian government are putting in place a National Committee to Combat Desertification (NCCD) and formulation of National Action Programme (NAP)”, said FAO representative in Iran.

“In a joint cooperation with the government of Islamic Republic of Iran and FRWO in specific, FAO is implementing a big GEF co-funded project which aims to rehabilitate degraded forest and landscapes in arid and semi-arid ecosystems of Iran,” Noureddin Mona added. He said he was quite confident that through the dedicated efforts of all colleagues involved in this significant project, from central to provincial and local levels, achievement of the objectives of the project is definitely ascertained.

FAO is also implementing another big inter-governmental project in the lower-Mesopotamia basin (including Iran, Iraq and Syria) supported by the government of Italy to better manage scared water resources in response to increasing concerns for food security and human development.