Sand, dust storms are fixable problems: UN coordinator

In an interview with IRNA, Lewis hailed Iran efforts for holding the International Conference on Combating Sand and Dust Storms and noted that he will represent the results of conference to the UN General Assembly in New York in September and the UN Environment Assembly in December.

Tehran International Conference on Combating Sand and Dust storms was a landmark event in the history of human being and its efforts to fix the dust pollution problem, he said.

Lewis said that Iran had an excellent role in fighting dust storms and it has been behind four of the UN resolution that took place within the last few years.

“We have got two problems, the first is the amount of carbon dioxide we have released in to the atmosphere which caused the climate change and made the region hotter and drier and it’s a long-term issue and in the short-term, we have done a lot in Iran and other countries to mess with nature; we have over pumped the water; we have played as to be a master of universe; in fact we have done a lot of damage to the planet that is indeed, causing the problems, the envoy said while elaborating the cause of sand and dust storms in the world and Iran.'

Lewis said that now the main point however is not to point fingers and say x-country made the problem but we should work jointly to find a solution to the problem.

The First International Conference on Combating Sand and Dust Storms is holding in Tehran on 3-5 July 2017. The international conference was hosted by the Department of Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, with the cooperation of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, UN Environment and the UN Development Program, in collaboration with other relevant UN entities.

Interview by Hamdollah Emadi Heydari

9191**2050