Tehran – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) link the arms with Iran's Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization (FRWO) to catalyse both national and international investments and actions to enhance resilience against Sand and Dust Storms in the agriculture sector of the country.

As part of FAO‘s universal mandate and in the framework of this interregional FAO Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) project, this partnership aims at strengthening evidence-based understanding of the sand and dust storms and its impacts on agriculture.

Recognising the significant damages and losses caused by Sand and Dust Storms to both human health and agricultural activities, this TCP project, is focussing on enhanced resilience of agriculture-dependent communities.

This multi-country project is directed towards the development of a large-scale programme to address Sand and Dust Storms in the affected regions proactively.

In this respect, FAO is committed to mobilising international and national expertise, assisting the selected countries, including Iran, in consolidating the requisite knowledge base for plan to combat sand and dust storms and identifying the relevant risk reduction strategies for the agricultural sector. All these efforts are aimed at formulating well-targeted, high-impact interventions in terms of Sand and Dust Storm at inter-regional and national levels.

FAO, being the lead UN agency in promoting sustainable agricultural and rural development, works closely with member states to identify the natural-induced hazards, lending its technical capacities and resources to the development and implementation of policies, measures and practices, which facilitate addressing the risks and disasters posed to the agriculture sector.