Desertification in Qazvin Province shows no sign of letting up, with about 100,000 hectares of the once lush Qazvin Plain now barren lands, said the head of the provincial office of Natural Resources and Watershed Management. Ali Akbar Asadollahi added that regions to the south of Abyek and Bouin-Zahra are increasingly turning into deserts, “but measures to combat the process are underway”, ISNA reported. Asadollahi said planting vegetation is a commonly used method of curbing desertification, though Qazvin’s struggle with water shortage makes it difficult to accomplish. “Due to the excessive exploitation of groundwater resources and declining precipitation, the plain has subsided by 20 cm,” he said.
