TEHRAN (Iran News) – Japanese Ambassador in Tehran Kazutoshi Aikawa has emphasized the need to broaden cooperation with Iran in the field of environment.

Offering promotional services and providing people with proper education is of importance in environment protection, IRNA quoted the envoy as saying on Tuesday.

He made the remarks in a meeting with West Azarbaijan province governor general Mohammad-Sadeq Motamedian.

Japan’s support for environmental projects

In February 2021, the Government of Japan contributed $3 million to help revive Lake Urmia through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Lake Urmia was once the most extensive permanent hypersaline lake in the world. Unsustainable water management in response to increasing demand together with climatic extremes has given rise to the lake’s depletion during the last two decades. The lake’s restoration program was established in 2013 and aims to restore the lake within a 10-year program. The contribution is being implemented as a component of UNDP’s ongoing Conservation of Iranian Wetlands Project – a joint project between Iran’s Department of Environment and UNDP. This was Japan’s eighth contribution to UNDP Iran.

The project aims to better the application of sustainability models in Lake Urmia and its adjacent wetlands, promoting local participation in 170 villages around the lake basin as well as enhancing the livelihoods and resilience of local communities through a more integrated approach.

The seven-year cooperation between Iran and Japan in the successful implementation of Lake Urmia revival has made the Japanese government willing to continue environmental cooperation, Ahmad Reza Lahijanzadeh, deputy chief of the Department of Environment (DOE) for the marine environment, has said.

In July 2021, the Japanese envoy said that good measures have been taken to rehabilitate Lake Urmia and it is gratifying to see that the water body is being revived.

In February 2021, the Government of Japan contributed $3 million to help revive Lake Urmia through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

“Good efforts have been made to revitalize Lake Urmia and I am very happy to see that the Lake is being revived. We hope to take more steps in this regard with the sympathy and cooperation of the related bodies.”

Moreover, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has provided 6 air pollution analysis equipment to Iran within the framework of capacity development on air pollution control in the Tehran Municipality Project.

The Seventh Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) of the JICA Project for Capacity Development on Air Pollution Control in Tehran Municipality Project was formed.

This project, which started in 2017, is one of the largest and most comprehensive projects in the field of air pollution by the Japanese in collaboration with Iranian experts covers various aspects of air pollution in Tehran, and finally provides solutions to reduce air pollution in the metropolis of Tehran will end this year.