The head of Iran’s Department of the Environment is expressing grave concern about rising greenhouse gas emissions, increasing temperatures and the decline in environmental indicators all across the country.

The Mehr News Agency reports that Massoumeh Ebtekar announced that Iran is now the seventh-highest producer of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, and the temperature across the country has risen between 1.5 to 3 degrees.

She stressed that Iranians should prepare themselves for changing climate patterns and declining water levels as a result of rising temperatures.

Iran has seen an unprecedented decline in precipitation in recent years and the drying out of many bodies of water across the country, such as Lake Oroumiyeh and Lake Hamoon.

Ebtekar added that environmental resources are being depleted at a rapid pace, noting that in world rankings of environmental indicators, Iran has fallen 61 places. Ebtekar took over the Department of the Environment last summer as part of Hassan Rohani’s administration, and she has been highly critical of the former government’s lack of action in the environmental field.

Radio Zamaneh