Iran’s Department of Environment has presented an environmental proposal to the UN Adaptation Fund to enlist the global body’s cooperation and financial support for a bid to revive the imperiled Bakhtegan wetland in southwestern Fars Province.
The Adaptation Fund, according to its website, finances the initiatives undertaken by developing countries to adapt to climate change.
“Preserving the Bakhtegan wetland has always been at the center of the DOE’s attention. For that matter, in addition to sending the proposal to the AF, we have hired an advisor on international, national and local affairs,” Abolfazl Abasht, director of the Conservation of Iranian Wetlands Project, said in an interview with IRNA on Tuesday.
The DOE’s proposal was prepared in cooperation with energy and agriculture ministries and the United Nations Development Program.
Abasht said Iran would be eligible for a $10 billion project if its proposal could win the AF’s approval in a competition with a myriad of similar applications filed by other countries.
“Our proposal is to compete with dozens or even hundreds of other proposals sent to the AF from around the world and it would be great if we can convince the fund that we deserve its aid.”
The Bakhtegan wetland has seen a more than 75% decline in its surface water volume, recording the highest decrease in the plateau.
Abasht said the DOE’s proposal was sent a month ago and is currently going through the AF’s time-consuming procedures.
Domestic Initiatives
In the meantime, the environmental officials are pushing through other national initiatives to save the troubled lagoon, he noted.
“The DOE has not been idle and is pressing ahead with its own plans. A plan for the comprehensive management of the Bakhtegan wetland has been drawn up and finalized with a focus on the area’s ecosystem… It was developed during the workshops attended by representatives of all the concerned state bodies and the local community.”
DOE’s director, Isa Kalantari, ordered the officials in Fars Province last month to prepare the urgent plan in cooperation with Shiraz University, which is named after the province’s capital city.
Kalantari said at the time the DOE was facing no financial constraint on the project but the allocation of the funds were pending the completion of a study plan.
Since nearly two decades ago, Iran has been grappling with a sever water shortage mainly caused by high consumption and waste. It has led to a drastic drop in the national resources of renewable water.
Climate change, however, is to partially blame for Bakhtegan’s critical situation, too.
In relevant remarks, Masoud Baqerzadeh Karimi, deputy for wetlands affairs at the Department of Environment, said Iran has highlighted the impact of the climate change to push its case with the AF.
“We are trying to access the fund’s resources because we believe climate change is partially responsible for the desiccation of the Bakhtegan wetland,” he said.
