United Nations Resident Coordinator in Iran Gary Lewis promised the UN’s help in checking the dust storms that have been battering the key Khuzestan Province since 2014.
Lewis, who was in the province to assess the region’s environmental condition, attended a meeting with provincial officials Wednesday evening to discuss solutions to the recurring dust storms, ISNA news agency reported.
“Our mission here is to assess the region’s environmental challenges which threaten the wellbeing of its inhabitants,” he said, adding that he was saddened by the extent of the problems.
Mismanagement of resources directly affects the climate of an area, which affects the environment in undesirable ways, Lewis said. “Today, we are witnessing the results of bad management.”
He also spoke about his trips to other parts of Iran, including Urmia and Mashhad, and stressed that he is fully aware of Iran’s environmental challenges.
The UN is committed to fighting environmental disasters, Lewis said, and added, “We are going to push ahead with our current plans to fight the effects of climate change.”
The United Nations Development Programme office in Iran acts as a proxy between the country and the UN, he asserted.
“On behalf of the UN, I promise we will spare no effort to combat the dust storms,” he emphasized, and announced that measures will soon be taken in the province.
