Iranian Foreign Ministry Director General for International Peace and Security, Reza Najafi, said on Monday that Iran has a strong commitment to its international treaties, including the Minamata Convention on Mercury, adding that a national committee on mercury has been established to draw the country’s stance on the issue, and devise a roadmap for comprehensive implementation of the environmental programs.

The Minamata Convention is an international treaty to protect human health and environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and its compounds. The convention, which was adopted on 10 October 2013 and entered into force on 16 August 2017, bans new and phases out existing mercury mines, contains measures to control air emissions, and regulates the informal sector of artisanal and small-scale gold mining.

Iran joined the convention in mid-2017.

However, the official said Iran is concerned over the hostile and unilateral policies and the politicization of GEF (Global Environment Fund) decision making, saying Tehran has the right to benefit from the convention’s advantages and facilities.

Iran had previously highlighted that such synergistic approach is negative to the progress of implementing the convention.

A veterinarian at the Tehran Zoological Garden, also known as the Eram Zoo, made the happy announcement in an interview with Mehr News correspondent on Saturday.

Iman Memarian said the female leopard was under examination for the past two weeks and the sperms of the male leopard was constantly checked to make sure the two are in perfect health for reproduction.

He said today was the fourth day since Wednesday that the two leopards naturally mated, voicing hope that their cubs would debut in 93 to 100 days.

Memarian noted that the female leopard, called Kija, will take a pregnancy test in 20 days, saying the chances for pregnancy are very high given the fact that the sperms of the male leopard, ‘Gaspar’, are perfectly healthy and active.

According to him, leopards give birth to between one to six cubs, and they usually give birth to twins. He said the natural mating raises the chance for the birth of more cubs.

‘Gaspar’, the male leopard, has been brought to Iran last year.

This is the first time that leopards in captivity in Iran have managed to mate naturally, which heralds many other such happy occasions in the future.

On February 7, veterinarians at the Eram Zoo carried out an artificial insemination on a Persian leopard, which was aborted due to the fact that the female leopard was deemed physically unready for the operation.

According to the news website of Department of Environment of the Islamic Republic of Iran (DOE), Parvin Farshchi, the Deputy Director of DOE’s Marine Environmental Department said on Saturday that “in cooperation with the marine environmental institutions and organizations a comprehensive program is being compiled to protect the Caspian Seas’ seals.”

Farshchi said painting images of seals on the ships sailing in the Caspian Sea as a form of awareness-raising is one of the of the programs being taken into account by the her organization.

She added that the fishermen are being taught how to deal with seals when they encounter them.

Meanwhile, Davood Mirshekar, the Director of the DOOE’s Marine Environmental Department said that the number of Caspian seals have sharply reduced by 90% over the past 30 years as a result of water polluters such as oil pollution, industrial waste (including heavy metals), agricultural pesticides (various types of pesticides), radioactive waste, waste water and garbage, and noise pollution (for example, caused by the activities of the oil and gas refineries, boat trips and marine vessels).

Mirshekar said that the polluters have caused serious problems for the seals’ infertility rate and have weakened their immune system.

Iran, as one of the littoral countries of the Caspian Sea, has established a hospital in Golestan Province to preserve the life of seals. In addition, Iran has put a ban on hunting this valuable species.

According to the Ministry of Energy, 2.673 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy have been produced form June 2009 to 21 December 2018, leading to the reduction of about 1.844 million greenhouse gases emissions.

Also, this amount of alternative energy production has reduced 759 million cubic meters of fossil fuel consumption in the country, which is one of the main sources of air pollution in Iran. The volume has also saved 588 million liters of water consumption in recent years, with the share of December alone being about 14 million liters.

Currently, 445 megawatts of renewable energy power plants are under construction in the country, and the capacity of installed alternative energies has reached 670 megawatts. Accordingly, 97 renewable power plants with megawatt capacities have been built in the country so far, and 42 others are under construction.

Renewable energy has resulted in the direct and indirect employment of 43,600 people and the volume of non-governmental investment in this sector has reached more than 101 trillion rials (about $2.4 billion).

The study of the figures in this sector shows that 42% of Iran’s renewable plants is from solar power, 41% wind power, 13% small hydroelectric, 2% heat recovery and 2% biomass.