DOE Stresses Prudent Cultivation Policies

Head of the Department of Environment Isa Kalantari warned about the environmental implications of a national food self-sufficiency policy, singling out an escalating water crisis. 
"We still keep insisting on the need to produce all our food domestically, which means further encroachment on nature. Urmia Lake and wetlands in the south are some of the victims of such mismanagement," Kalantari said in an interview with state radio on Tuesday, a day ahead of the World Population Day.
A combination of high population and rising food consumption has strained Iran's natural resources and little has been done to deal with the situation.