A Review on National and International Legal Documents on Combating Sand and Dust Storms

In the current world, various types of pollution are the result of the adverse effects of human activities. One of these types of contaminations is air pollution, originated from dust. Over the years, governments and international organizations both governmental and non-governmental have made great efforts to manage and reduce the destructive effects of sand and dust storms. However, the fact is that there is a serious gap in relation to the legal documents related to management and the reduction of destructive effects of sand and dust storms. In other words, countries that are somehow involved with this phenomenon have not implemented effective measures for the compilation and approval of binding documents for the reduction of sand and dust storms. This failure is rooted in many issues, including political, economic, social, and cultural concerns. It is also worth mentioning that among the few documents on managing and reducing the destructive effects of dust, many of them at the regional level are between just two or more countries directly affected by this phenomenon. The present article, applying an analytical-descriptive method, seeks to examine the Iranian national laws and regulations as well as international legal documents on sand and dust storms; it also outlines the existing legal vacuum and provides related practical solutions. Studies show that so far, a law that directly and specifically deals with the issue of sand and dust storms has not been approved and the international community has not succeeded in drafting and ratifying a specific document in this regard.