Administration Determined to Save Drying Lake Oroumiyeh: Iran’s VP
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian first vice-president reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to saving the endangered Lake Oroumiyeh in northwest of the country, which has lost quite a large surface in recent years.
“Saving Lake Oroumiyeh is an important and national goal, and the administration has mobilized the country’s entire scientific and executive abilities with seriousness to help Lake Oroumiyeh,” Eshaq Jahangiri said in a Tuesday session of a national task force on saving the shrinking lake.
He noted that the administration has taken advantage of the country’s universities, experts, as well as local and foreign academics to draw up plans for saving the lake.
Jahangiri reiterated that the administration has serious resolve to find remedies for saving the shrinking lake, stressing that the national plan has by no means slid into oblivion.
As Lake Oroumiyeh is shrinking and deserts of salt expanding, Iranian officials are trying to find ways to avert an imminent disaster and to stop the salt lake from drying up.
One of the largest salt lakes in the world and classified as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, Lake Oroumiyeh has lost more than 60 percent of its surface over the last two decades due to drought and the damming of rivers feeding it.
The disappearance of the lake could leave behind billions of tons of salt which in turn displace millions of people and endanger the ecosystem of all surrounding areas, whose economy relies on agriculture and tourism.
