Iran and Turkey agree to strengthen environmental cooperation at COP31

Iran and Turkey agreed to strengthen their environmental cooperation during a meeting between Iran's Vice President and Head of the Department of Environment, Sheena Ansari, and Turkish Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum. The two officials met on Friday in Antalya on the sidelines of the 31st UN Climate Change Conference (COP31), which is being held from November 9 to 20.

According to the report, Ansari referred to the environmental consequences of recent military actions against Iran and described attacks on fuel storage facilities around Tehran as instances of ecocide. She called for the appointment of special representatives by Iran and Turkey to advance the work of their joint environmental cooperation committee, with a focus on resilient cities and on sharing experience in implementing the Zero Waste program.

Kurum described Iran as a partner in advancing the goals of the ongoing COP31 summit and said developing countries should adopt common positions, noting that developed nations had failed to honor their climate commitments. He also expressed Turkey's readiness to broaden cooperation with Iran in resilient urban development, waste management, implementation of the Zero Waste program and reducing carbon footprints.

In a separate meeting, Ansari held talks with Iraq's Environment Minister Sarwa Abdulwahid Qadir. The two sides stressed the need for joint environmental cooperation between Iran and Iraq.

According to Mehr News, the discussions took place on the margins of the Antalya conference, where the Iranian delegation raised both regional environmental concerns and proposals for bilateral committees with Turkey and Iraq.