Khuzestan's governor general expressed satisfaction with the progress on a tree-planting scheme to combat the dust storms that regularly hit southern provinces, but called for measures to sustain that progress. "Sapling planting in the dust storms hotspots has progressed smoothly over the past few years," Gholamreza Shariati said on Friday, after paying a visit to the areas in the southwestern province covered by the project.
"In some parts, however, the saplings have not grown well because of the intense heat, drought and lack of proper irrigation. Some of them are dead and need replacement," Shariati was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Mitigation Measures
Afforestation, mulching and the revival of dried-up wetlands and rivers are some of the measures adopted across the dust bowls as part of a campaign to address one of the major environmental challenges facing the government for at least a good part of the last decade.
"An area of 20,000 hectares near the provincial capital Ahvaz has undergone tree-planting, 12 hectares have been subjected to grazing management measures, 1,500 hectares have witnessed tree-planting and mulching and seven hectares of dried-up land have been refilled with water. It means an area of over 42,000 hectares has so far been covered by the dust management scheme. We hope to be able to expand its scope to cover 89,000 hectares next year," Shariati said.
The project is being strictly monitored to ensure the trees are irrigated on schedule, he added. The afforestation initiative was the outcome of a joint dust control study by the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands and Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz.
The first massive storm in Iran struck in the summer of 2009, lashing Khuzestan and other southwestern provinces as well as Tehran and central provinces. While dust particles do not normally rise above two kilometers, the 2009 storm crossed over the Alborz Mountain Range and reached the northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran as well.
The following year, a more severe storm started in spring and almost covered the entire country. Since then, the phenomenon has been recurring on a yearly basis but mostly affecting the southwestern provinces, particularly Khuzestan.
Persistent drought and desiccation of wetlands and rivers have made an otherwise natural phenomenon worse. While global warming is partly to blame for this, human interference has turned dust storms into a problem of epic proportions.
