2005/58

IRAN AWARDED FOR IMPROVING LIVING ENVIRONMENTS

TEHRAN, 1 February 2005 (UNIC)--At a ceremony in Dubai Monday, Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), presented this year’s joint UN-HABITAT and Dubai International Award for Best Practices to Improve the Living Environment.

Each winning practice received a $30,000 cash prize. Award winners were from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kenya, Palestine, Spain, Togo, and Uzbekistan.

For years, nomads of Iran's Gareh Bygone Plains, have been subject to desertification, drought and floods. The Green Path to Sustainable Development of Marginal Drylands programme has helped alleviate the situation by controlling floodwaters and planting new forests in Iran’s Gareh Bygone Plains. After 5 years, it has proven so successful that it has led to a government policy adopting aquifer management as a programme and allocating an annual budget.

The original call for Best Practices was launched in 1995 during preparations for the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in Istanbul, as a means of identifying what works in improving living conditions on a sustainable basis. For further details see: http://www.unhabitat.org/2004_best_practice.asp

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