Official Warns SDS Could Lead to Mass Immigration

Neglecting to manage the current environmental crisis, especially the issue of sand and dust storms (SDS), could lead to mass immigration and a vast array of other problems, the advisor to the head of the Department of Environment, Ali Mohammad Tahmasbi Birgani, stated. 
“The ramifications of [mass immigration] will, without question, far outweigh the economic and environmental damages of today,” Birgani was quoted as saying by ISNA. 
All regional nations were vulnerable to the issue of sandstorms, he noted, caused by climate change and excess resource use in the past decades. 
“In West Asia, there are about 270 million hectares of land that can become sources of sandstorms, with various severities,” he said, adding that these drylands can create up to 147 million tons of particulate matter smaller than 10 micron in diameters. A large portion of these dangerous particles are carried by high-speed winds to Iran. 
Many provinces in the country are regularly engulfed by thick yellow clouds of dust over spring and summer, and the problem seems to worsen every year as the decline in rainfall, abandonment of agricultural lands and the destruction of vegetation contribute to the exacerbation of sandstorms. 
Birgani noted that Iran has been a pioneering force in the fight against sandstorms and its actions have been recognized and lauded by the United Nations. 
Faced by an unprecedented number of sandstorms last year, Iran brought together ministers of environment from countries in the region and is working toward the establishment of a regional organization dedicated to the fight against sandstorms. 

Int’l Conference 

Last year, the UN General Assembly appointed Iran to host an international conference on sandstorms in September, which Birgani hailed as an achievement in the environmental diplomacy of President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration. 
Iran had also suggested July 12 as International Day of Combating Sand and Dust Storms, which was approved by the UN. 
The government has also been negotiating with neighboring nations, especially Iraq and Syria, to tackle sandstorms where they mostly originate from as decades of water and land mismanagement, war and drought have turned them into hotspots for sand and dust. 
“Environmental diplomacy can deeply affect political diplomacy as well,” Birgani concluded, referring to the September meeting which will be participated by ministers from dozens of nations aimed at combating sandstorms. 
Sandstorms have adverse and long-term effects on the health of millions of people around the world.