TEHRAN –Cities across the country are to be classified in terms of feeling the impact of climate change so that solutions will be presented for cities experiencing more changes in temperature.

Climate change is an issue that affects the whole world and Iran is no exception, so we are assessing cities in terms of damages climate change has done to urban infrastructure or will do in the future, Masoud Tajrishi, deputy head of the Department of Environment (DOE) for human environment, told IRNA on Friday.

It is planned to classify cities in terms of the effects of climate change and the problems caused by it, and then, based on global experience, determine the best way for each to reduce their vulnerability, he noted.

He went on to say that this is done in collaboration with the DOE and the Institute of Transportation Studies and Research, which will be fully prepared by May 2021.

The effects of climate change will be estimated in cities such as Tehran, Kerman or Shiraz, in which infrastructures were affected by climate change or will be in the future, then the cities are ranked and in the next step a solution is suggested based on the global experience, he explained.

He also added that strategies will be chosen to increase the resilience of cities.

The idea is to gradually identify and classify cities in terms of rainfall, drought, or sand and dust storms, and finally prepare an action plan so that cities will suffer the least from climate change in the future, he highlighted.

Mohammad Darvish, secretary of environmental policy at the center for strategic studies affiliated to the presidential office said in January 2019, the effects of climate change on Iran has more than doubled on average compared to other parts of the world, while southern provinces of the country are more likely to bear the consequences.

FB/MG