SANANDAJ, Kurdestan Province Vice President and Head of the Department of Environment Ma'soumeh Ebtekar here on Thursday warned of the grave consequences of inaction about ecological problems, saying this would affect Iran in the long run.

She said negligence to the state of the environment would inflict huge costs on the country with effects that would be noticeable in the long run.

She singled out the consumption patterns of pesticides and fertilizers, in terms of their type and their use in the country's agriculture as among factors for Iran's ecological concerns.

"Substandards pesticides used in the country's agriculture entail many negative effects on ecology," she said.

Ebtekar blamed the present rise in the rate of diseases in the Third World on ecological hazards as well as rapid destruction of natural resources, adding this was mainly due to the lack of sound development plans.

She said the government, the public as well as nongovernmental organizations had to strive to make the country's long-term development plans realistic and make God-given blessings available to all.

The development programs, Ebtekar added, should be channelled toward conservation of natural resources for the future generations.

She said development patterns in the developed countries have been steered toward making them lasting, adding this would consequently lead to national welfare.