Climate Change and IRAN
October 07, 2008

By: Leila Enayati

Email: Enayati@unairan.org

 According to figures, since 1970 the earth has got between 0.8 to 1 degree Celsius warmer. This has resulted in severe droughts on one hand and floods and strong storms and hurricanes to occur on the other hand. Over the last decade, we have witnessed at least eight years of drought in Iran and neighbouring countries. The drought has severe implications, particularly in grains and cereals production. One problem that people shall be faced with will be the price of cereals. Strong storms and hurricanes, and floods, and also the rising sea levels in coastal areas are other serious problems.

To confront ecological changes, the world must adopt an economy where the carbon dioxide emissions reach minimum levels. Iran and Iranian officials have no objections in this regard, because this is a view that is based on scientific evidence. Iran’s position stress’s on supporting the environmental protection conventions and the Kyoto Protocol, and Iran has on agenda long-term planning for combating climate change.
 
In the private sector, the civil institutions and groups have expressed positive reactions. For example in a sitting in the Engineers Society Bureau in Tehran, while playing a video clip of Al Gore’s documentary on climate change, the young consultants engineers society of Iran said that these changes to the climate were very important, and at the sitting it was decided for the engineers society to set some standards to fight this problem.
 
One of the decisions that were made by the consultant engineers society was to environmentally, socially and health evaluations to be made before large industrial and construction projects were implemented, and consultant engineers must conduct the careful evaluation themselves and or projects that had not been evaluated must not be implemented. Another problem that existed was traditions and refusal to follow suit, and because our country is an old and historic country that is full of tradition, and these old traditions must be used in some of the planning. Another issue raised was the encouragement to use new energy sources, and energy saving gadgets.
 
The most important expectations of Iran from the Bali Conference are:
 
  • Portioning the glasshouse gas emission levels in different countries,
  • Forcing countries to use new energy sources and provide grants to countries for this,
  • Change of states grant and tax policies,
  • Provision of grants for environmental friendly projects,
  • Allocation of credit for population control in poor countries, as a means to help reduce heat and reduce usage,
  • Need to create initiatives in Third World countries,
  • Financial support for developing countries and transfer of technology to these regions,
  • Importance of the existence of developing countries’ interests in climate change programmes. 
The Bali Conference showed that there is a strong will and consensus for the protection of the climate, but there is a long way to go to fulfill this will. Not only has the United States not signed the Kyoto Protocol, but the majority of industrialized countries believe that developing countries must take up responsibility in the protection of the climate more than before.
 
The thing that causes complexity in the subject is what must countries do in the event the protection of the climate brings about negative results in their growth?
 
The government’s expectations from the UN for the support of sustainable development:
 
  • Particular attention to the situation and interests of developing countries within environmental programmes
  • Information dissemination and monitoring the implementation of the principles of treaties and agreements that have been signed in local, national, regional, and international conferences.
  • Concentration of UN scientific and practical potentials to achieve more realistic results in environmental field.
  • Drawing the participation of all influential sectors in this field such as government, civil society and private sector
  • Setting national and international environmental regulations with a special focus on the situation of developing countries.
  • Payment of particular attention to sustainable education, and creation of technical skills for governmental, nongovernmental and social experts.
  • Setting special capacity building programmes on sustainable development and the environment.
  • Analysis of the situation and confronting the most important threats to the environment
  • Facilitation and support for institutionalization and legislation by governments on national, regional and international levels.
  • Human resource and financial support of governments in the implementation of environmental programmes in different countries.
 
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