IWM to Evolve Natural Resources Management

Khalil Aghaee, Deputy Minister and Head of Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization (FRWO) who was visiting Zanjan province on Tuesday met with Dr. Fathollah Haghighi, Governor General of Zanjan province and discussed natural resources issues.

According to FRWO’s website, Aghaee in this meeting referring to the FRWO's initiative on exchange of agreement with the Governorates to implement IWM projects in provinces throughout the country, thanked Zanjan Governorate attention to natural resources issue and said: “We are now in the golden age of IWM evolution for preserving soil and water resources in the country. The effectiveness of IWM measures is clear to local communities and they have found out that, wherever IWM projects are implemented in addition to aquifers' infiltration, flood damages have reduced to a bare minimum.”

He also said that “special attention of the Supreme Leader to the issue of natural resources by and the allocation of budget from National Development Fund in the last two years, has given a new life to natural resources management”.

He reiterated that based on Para B of Article 29 of Sixth National Development Plan, local people and NGOs can be contracted by FRWO for natural resources and IWM projects and noted that this legal capacity would benefit both natural resources and local people that ends up to better preservation of the resources.

He considered the development of wood farming an effective mechanism to meet the country's wood requirements and reduce the pressure on natural forests, and emphasized that Zanjan province has a good capacity in this area.