30,000 die every year due to air pollution, and 16,000 in road accidents.
This was admitted by the head of the Environmental Protection Organization.
Esa Kalantari, presidential deputy and head of the Environmental Protection Organization said while around 16,000 get killed in road accidents, 30,000 die every year due to air pollution which is twice as much as the road accidents which is of great importance to everyone.
Kalantari made these remarks in the 21st National Gathering of Industry and Green Services at the Environmental Protection Organization on Sunday morning, February 16.
Kalantari stressed: So, whether we like it or not, protection of environment is inevitable. Protection of environment must be one of the top priorities of every government.
Kalantari added, “Today, we see that some 50 to 60 hectares of Zagros forests dry every year. Over the past 40 years, there has been a lot of pressure on nature, and consequently, forests have become sick due to soil erosion, pressure on water resources, etc.”
Kalantari also revealed that the Rouhani government has not been able to fulfill its promises in renovating 70,000 trucks, all the buses, and all the mini buses by the end of his tenure.
He said they were supposed to produce electric motorcycles, and remove carburetor motorcycles in 10 years. Kalantari stressed that to do all that they needed 20 billion dollars of investment every year which they did not have.
Holding only 0.2 per cent of the world economy, Iran ranks the 10th country in the world that destroys the natural environment.
Iran is now among the countries with the highest rate of soil erosion, exploitation of water resources, desertification, and so forth. Today, there’s not a single living wetland or lake in the country.
While part of the problem can be attributed to the global climate change, the regime must be blamed for adopting wrong policies which have aggravated the conditions.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which dominates the country’s Armed Forces and economy, has had an extremely destructive role in this regard. The IRGC has changed the path of rivers and built numerous dams in wrong locations to serve the regime’s nuclear and military projects. The drying of Lake Urmia, Zayandeh Rood river and other major rivers in Khuzestan and Kohgilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad provinces are attributed to the IRGC projects.
The regime has issued permission to raze large parts of Iran’s jungles and forests to smuggle woods out of the country, to construct hotels and buildings in the natural course of rivers to earn more money. They export the country’s water for economic and political profits; they have sold out the Caspian Sea and allowed Chinese companies to use industrial fishing methods causing irreversible damages to the Persian Gulf environment.
