Tackling Environmental Issues Needs Global Cooperation: Zarif

Speaking on the sidelines of a Thursday ceremony in Tehran to plant saplings as a token of peace and friendship, Zarif called the environmental issues a great challenge facing the world and said all countries in the world must join hands to tackle the problem.

“Today the main challenge of the world is the environmental issue. There are some people who would like to close their eyes on the fact that the environment is the major bond connecting the whole world together. But, in fact, all countries in the world are prone to a dire threat because of the dangers that the environment is facing,” he said.

Zarif called on all countries to establish cooperation in the environment field and added “no country in the world, even if equipped with all the required tools, can cope with the environmental issue single-handedly.”

The Iranian top diplomat also said all countries in the world are in the same boat adding “we either reach the shore or drown together.”

The Iranian foreign minister then underlined that today’s world needs to sense the atmosphere of Iranian New Year (Nowruz).

“Our today’s world should not be home to fundamental differences, violence and spread of violence and differences. Like Nowruz, the world needs to return to the nature, beauty and activity. Our world should be the world of planting saplings.”

He referred to the ongoing developments across the globe and added the world is home to some interesting developments.

“Today, each individual can play a key fundamental role in shaping the future. Once, it was widely believed that unipolar groups and countries could lead the world to peace or war at the international level and they needed to have a strong government. Meanwhile, it was imagined that to send a message to the world, we should have a media emperor; but today, following the latest progress in the media industry, we are witnessing that an individual can send his or her message to the world through cyberspace. The era of media monopoly has gone,” he said.

He pointed to the saplings planted by the diplomatic delegations attending the ceremony and said “all these saplings are highly significant for preserving the environment.”

“It is up to all of us to protect the environment and no one can claim that the individual have no share in this regard,” he said.

The Iranian foreign minister finally recited a poem by the legendary Persian Poet Hafez saying “through our commonalities we can establish a better world for our children.”