Iran taking part in ministerial conference on environment in Dubai

Iran, as a member of the international community has seriously taken into consideration the need to preserve the environment, said Iran's representative to an environmental conference Masoumeh Ebtekar here on Saturday.

Addressing the Ministerial Conference on Environment, Culture and Tourism, Iran's Vice-President and Head of the Department of the Environment (DoE) Massoumeh Ebtekar underlined the need for all-out efforts to improve the living conditions of desert people around the world.

The three-day Ministerial Conference on Environment, Culture and Tourism, attended by over 30 ministers, is being held in the emirate of Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to explore means of 'integrating efforts towards sustainable development of desert regions'.

The year of 2006 has been named as 'Year of Deserts' which reflects the significance of preserving desert regions to the international community, noted Ebtekar.

She stressed that Iran has 20 national parks, six protected regions and five wild life habitats with many tourist attractions that are located in desert regions.

With cooperation of the UNDP and Iran, a two-day international conference titled 'Environment, Peace and Cultures' is scheduled to be held in Tehran from May 9-10.