The second day started with the speech of the head of the organization, followed by Ahmad Vahidi, the minister of the country, and then Dr. Asgari, the head of the Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources Commission of the Islamic Council, and Dr. Nami, as the head of the country's crisis management organization, made some remarks. In the following, Dr. Javan Bakht as the Deputy Minister of Energy for Water Affairs, Dr. Khodabakhshi as the Secretary of the Cultural Committee of the Supreme National Security Council, and Mrs. Dr. Rafiei as the head of the Environment Fraction of the Islamic Parliament mentioned some points about the topic of the meeting.

At the end of the speech, Dr. Jafarian, Director General of the Office of Desert Affairs, explained the neutralization of land degradation in the Convention on Combating Desertification, and Dr. Ahmadi, Director General of Urban and Rural Waste of the Ministry of Interior, expressed his opinions.At the end of this day, a discussion panel and questions and answers were held with the responses of organizational managers. In the rest of the time, training sessions were provided by managers and experts of the organization.

News agencies and websites covered the news of theconferenceas follows:

According to Mehr reporter, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in this gathering: The problem of natural resources, soil and water on the one hand, and population, on the other hand, is important for a country and the country has no meaning without each of them

He added: Currently, the statistics show the increase of the desert so that one million hectares of soil is subject to erosion every year, which is a worrying number

He continued: problems such as massive soil erosion, land subsidence due to the reduction of the underground water table, micro dust, and destruction of forests need to be addressed urgently

The Minister of the Interior pointed out that taking care of water and soil is one of our inherent duties and stated: It is obligatory to preserve the territorial integrity and we will seriously defend the country. However, the preservation of natural resources is also critical. The issue of soil erosion is a global issue, but we should not neglect our great responsibility

Vahidi emphasizedthatthe priority of preserving the country's water and soil is more important than anything else, this issue is not specific to one organization and requires collective participation centered on the natural resources organization.

He continued by referring to the mobilization of the people. Whenever the security of the country is threatened, there is a need for the mobilization of the people to deal with the dangers.

While pointing out that we should feel the danger, the Minister of Interior said: The challenge of soil erosion should be taken seriously. This problem has a solution, one of which is to pay attention to watershed management. In this way, while enriching the underground aquifers, it prevents soil degradation and water wastage, so time should not be lost and the necessity of its implementation needs to be cheapened

The Minister of Interior reminded: There is nothing more urgent than this for jihadi groups. All departments and governorates of the country should pay attention to the issue and even the share of municipalities in planting one billion trees should be clear

Emphasizing the two issues of water and soil as well as the population, Vahidi said: the work should be done more quickly with public mobilization. In this regard, two population camps and a Jihadi camp have been formed in the Ministry of Interior, which follow up on both problems

Vahidi said that the work should not end with a seminar and continued: The cost of watershed management, while preventing flood damage, helps us reach our destination in preserving water and soil

The Minister of the Interior said: Watershed management should be done using jihadi groups and local communities, and all districts, governorates, and municipalities should participate in this important matter in order to restore the underground aquifers and deepwater reserves and prevent the subsidence of the plains and the creation of sinkholes.

According to the information base of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi stated on the second day of the training workshop and synergistic meeting for the supreme governance of the land: the issue of natural resources (water and soil) and population are the key issues of the country, which we are facing a crisis in both of them.

He added: the increase of 1 million hectares of desertification, erosion of 30 million tons, and subsidence due to the reduction of water tables, the problems of fine dust and forest destruction show the lack of attention to the issue of soil and water in the country

Stating that the preservation and maintenance of water and soil is as important as preserving the territorial integrity of the country, Vahidi said: The soil and water of this land are the priority of the country and we need synergy to preserve and maintain it

He continued: One of the most important and urgent measures in the field of soil and water conservation is the mobilization of everyone to deal with environmental threats so that the country's soil and water maintain their durability and dynamism

Emphasizing that we must protect the country with a superior governance, the Minister of the Interior said: We must take this issue seriously and feel threatened when faced with threats. Subsidence and sinkholes are a reality and we must prevent soil erosion and water wastage by using watershed management and restoring underground water

He added: Watershed management should be done using jihadi groups and local communities, and all rural districts, district administrations, governorates, and municipalities should participate in this important matter

At the end, Vahidi said: with the popularization of soil protection and continuous action, we can preserve the water and soil of this land and take steps towards its development

According to the information base of the Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization of the country, quoted by the Ministry of Jihad and Agriculture, Mohammad Ali Nikbakht, in a message to the synergistic conference for the supreme governance of the land, considered watershed management and aquifer management as low-cost, widely used, and low-complication methods in preserving water and soil to achieve the goals of governance And he said: watershed management and the integrated management of the country's watersheds are among the most important issues and issues of the natural resources and agriculture sub-sector, which have been emphasized many times by the Supreme Leader

In a part of this message, the Minister of Jihad Keshavarzi said: integrated management of the country's watersheds with the approach of sustainable development and the use of people's participation is the most suitable option for controlling and managing damage in this sector, considering the conditions and talent of the country's watersheds; it will strengthen the country's food security and authority, strengthen vegetation, restore pastures, strengthen the capacity of underground water sources, reduce the rate of water loss, extract new water, control soil erosion, control and manage sediment, and so on.

Nikbakht, in another part of the message, emphasizing the establishment of supreme governance of the land with the participation of the people, wrote as follows: considering that the efficiency and desirability of participatory and multi-level governance and management and avoiding sectionalism can lead to the success of many programs in line with development In recent months, the Organization of Natural Resources and Watershed Management, as the central deputy and guardian of the matter, has started extensive cooperation in the form of a memorandum of understanding with the Crisis Management Organization and the Jihadi Headquarters of the Ministry of Interior, which we hope will be the source of desirable achievements in this regard.

In the rest of the message, by enumerating the most important goals and demands, he emphasized on the realization of the goals of the seventh economic development program of the country and the general policies announced by the Supreme Leader in the field of natural resources with the aim of economic progress combined with justice and strengthening the integrated governance of water resources and uses

The Minister of Jihad and Agriculture has concluded: I feel it necessary to thank the efforts and cooperation of the Jihad camp of the Ministry of Interior, the Crisis Management Organization, the Ministry of Energy, the Country Planning and Budget Organization and other responsible institutions in this field. The Ministry of Jihad and Agriculture is also aligned with the strategy of the people's government and with the slogan of jihad "all together" and the efforts of its jihadi managers to achieve all the available capacities of the agricultural sector, especially jihadist farmers, elites, universities, unions, sector organizations, and knowledge-based companies. It will fulfill the mentioned goals and will try to strengthen it

The head of the country's natural resources and watershed management organization said that nearly 90 million hectares of activities remain in the watersheds of the country, for which 18 to 19 million hectares have been developed an executive plan

According to the information base of the Ministry of Jihad of Agriculture, Abbas Ali Nobakht, on the second day of the training workshop and synergistic meeting for the supreme governance of the land, added: for the health of watersheds, we should not only look at ecological issues but the management of natural resources with three important ecological, economic and social factors.

At the same time, he emphasized on the implementation of watershed management plans in the form of the 7th and 8th development plans and stated: We have a plan to study and implement watershed management plans

Nobakht pointed out the market and non-market values ​​of watershed management in the country and said: 4.4 to 4.7 profit returns to nature for one unit of cost and credit in watershed management

He said about the rate of desertification of the country's lands: the rate of desertification of the country's lands is 3 times the activities that we are doing in the field of combating desertification

The head of the country's natural resources and watershed management organization stated that the country's desert area is 44 million hectares, and admitted that about 30 to 32 million hectares of this area are exposed to wind erosion

He continued: With special funds in the form of the sixth development plan, 300,000 hectares of desertification was developed annually in the country, while we have about one million hectares of desertification every year

Nobakht also pointed to the expansion of desertification in the country and said: the number of desert provinces has increased from 14 to 22 provinces, while there are about 270 million hectares of dust fields around our country and Iran is affected by the dust of these lands

He continued: If the pastures of the country become deserts, the level of deserts will increase

At the same time, the Deputy Minister of Agricultural Jihad announced the development of a program to improve the quality and quantity of vegetation at the level of 50 million hectares to manage pastures and stated: This program has been prepared for five years and we hope that it will be implemented in coordination with the Ministry of Interior.

Referring to the formulation of the natural resources popularization plan, he said: This plan has been prepared by local communities with the approach of managing customary systems in the form of market and non-market functions

Nobakht also acknowledged the importance of an integrated watershed management plan: this plan is a guarantee for biological, food, and national security. We have started working in three large watershed areas

The head of the country's natural resources and watershed management organization also said about the people's plan to plant one billion trees: some governorates, including the south Khorasan governorate, have cooperated well with this plan. At the same time, he demanded to increase the level of cooperation of all governorates of the country with the people's plan to plant one billion trees

Nobakht clarified: If we want to have a strong Iran, we must preserve the country's existing vegetation and then think about its enrichment and development

The deputy of the country's natural resources and watershed management organization warned about the draining of aquifers and said: We have more than 140 billion cubic meters of water deficit in the country's aquifers

According to the information base of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad, Hassan Vahid added on the second day of the training workshop and synergistic meeting for the supreme governance of the land: Most of the country's aquifers have been drained of water and we are facing a crisis because it is not possible to return the lost water in the medium term

At the same time, he stated that the subsidence rate of 12 to 30 cm in the country's aquifers has created a worrying situation

Vahid mentioned the draining of aquifers, excessive consumption of water, non-observance of the consumption pattern, destruction of the land, and inappropriate use of water as factors of land subsidence

He stated that the occurrence of floods with different intensities in the country after rainfall creates panic, and clarified that 450 cities and 8,650 villages and settlements are under the threat of floods and more than 1,600 floods have occurred in the last decade

The deputy director of watershed management, rangeland, and desert affairs of the country's natural resources and watershed management organization also pointed to the problem of soil erosion and saidthat two billion tons of soil in the country are eroded every year.

He continued: The average soil erosion in Iran is 15.4 tons per hectare

Vahid considered not paying attention to the pastures as another factor in the occurrence of floods and subsidence of the land and said: Weak vegetation of the pastures leads to floods, subsidence and soil erosion

He admitted that nearly 66.2% of the country's pastures are classified as low-density pastures, 25.3% are semi-dense pastures, and 8.5% are classified as dense pastures.

Vahid noted: In the last few decades, more than twice the capacity of the country's pastures has been exploited.

Acknowledging that governments have neglected natural resources, he clarified that governments should invest in natural resources

On the other hand, the deputy of the country's natural resources and watershed management organization pointed to desertification and the phenomenon of dust in the country and stated that the annual rate of land destruction in the country is one million hectares, which causes dust

He added that 30 million hectares in the country are directly affected by wind erosion

Vahid listed the change in the use of agricultural land, the drop in underground water, the lack of water supply, and the consequences of climate change, including the aggravation of drought, among the factors of desert expansion

At the same time, he called the popularization of natural resources and watershed management programs, the integrated management of watershed areas centered on participatory management, and the organization's new approach to transcendental and sustainable governance of the land as the solution to solving natural resources issues.

Vahid added: The approach of natural resources and watershed management plans in the country should be towards economization of plans, making sustainable exploitation capacities more active, promoting the facilitation of people's participation, strengthening organizational and inter-agency cohesion

He called water a product of the watershed and clarified that solving the problems of the country's watersheds is not the responsibility of the Natural Resources Organization alone, all elements of the system and the people must participate.