Ms. Masoumeh Ebtekar received the EU commissioners, namely Karmenu Vella for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete. In her meeting with Mr. Vella, Ebtekar discussed important international treaties inn environment including Basel, Stockholm, and Ramsar Conventions, and highlighted the capacity of these conventions in improving regional and international interactions; “the EU could work with Iran in the framework of these conventions to tackle the country’s pressing issues in environment and dwindling natural resources,” she suggested.
Ebtekar pointed to a national initiative in establishing National Environment Fund and its role in absorbing resources and support, and cooperation of the private sector and NGOs for environmental projects; “support of international institutions for the Fund could greatly help us attain our objectives and assign even greater role to it in Iranian context,” she proposed.
Mr.Vella, for his part, told the meeting that with JCPOA implementation, opportunities for multilateral initiatives on environmental cooperation had to be exploited to address critical issues of national parks, floral and faunal diversity, waste management, air pollution, and pesticides remaining in the soil through agricultural activities
“The EU policy is to advance practical plans for environment across the globe, regardless of political and geographical borders; beginning in 2020, I will have a mission to watch over the EU environmental policies, and will have a responsibility to realize the objectives set in these practical plans in a course of 7 years in office,” Vella added. “There should be a constructive interaction between environment and the economy to attain a sustainable economic development; the EU has specific plans in green economy promotion which would help Iran as well.”
The second EU commissioner was Miguel Arias Cañete with whom Ebtekar sat in a meeting which focused upon multilateral cooperation on climate and environment. Ebtekar emphasized on Iran’s regional problems in terms of environment where wars, violence, and climatic disasters negatively contributed to Iranian setting, with far-reaching consequences in terms of water and desertification of larger part of central Iran; “in our neighbors mired on war and violence, environment has been relegated to last priorities; soil erosion, plant cover loss, and desertification are the direct effects of war and mismanagement; Iran welcomes signing Paris Agreement on environment and will help with the process of attaining objectives of the agreement,” Ebtekar told the meeting.
Miguel Arias Cañete for his part said that the environment and resources should be reserved to the posterity, and to this end, “the EU has had several legislations to secure protection of environment through providing relief from natural and man-made disasters.”
He expressed hopes that the EU find possible ways to work with Iran and help the country in sustainable protection of its environment; “as an effective way, our solution and proposal is to use solar and wind energy on which Iran enjoys extensive fields and expanses of desert where would provide enough sunlight for the projects; this would effectively curb the emission of greenhouse gases, and thus contribute toward objectives of international conventions,” he suggested.
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