Proper environmental permitting minimizes the odds of a company’s operations harming the natural environment or the health of the people.

A notification is given to the responsible institutions saying the implementation of any plan or project without environmental assessment and license is prohibited.

Since the current administration took office two years ago, it has repeatedly emphasized that the issue of environmental protection is its red line.

The proof of the claim is the order to stop the implementation of big petrochemical projects harmful to the environment, which were approved by the previous administration, IRNA reported.

Eco-friendly measures

President Ebrahim Raisi has highlighted the importance of environmental protection, emphasizing that the preservation of the environment is prior to every development.

Environmental protection will lead to power, security, investment, and production growth in the country, he said.

Both people and NGOs have an effective role to play in the protection of the environment, and they should be given a chance to play their role, he added.

On November 17, 2015, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, announced the general policies on the environment, emphasizing the need for comprehensive, harmonious, and organized management of vital resources based on ecological capability and sustainability, particularly by increasing capacities and appropriate legal and structural capabilities accompanied by public participation.

However, it seems that implementing the policies has not met its stated goals.

Ali Salajeqeh, the chief of the Department of Environment, has said after seven years, implementing the policies is not satisfactory.

The policies call for establishing a cohesive and national system on the issue of the environment.

Improving environmental conditions with the purpose of helping society enjoy a healthy environment, administering justice and observing intra-generational rights, preventing and prohibiting the circulation of all kinds of unlawful pollutants, recording crimes related to the environment, administering efficient and preventive punishment of polluters and destroyers of the environment and forcing them to compensate for their actions, were also among the policies.

Continuous refinement and control of air, water, soil, and noise pollutants, destructive waves and rays, and unfavorable climatic changes, and making compulsory the observation of environmental standards and criteria in implementing rules and regulations, development plans, and spatial planning, were other issues that the Leader urged officials to do.

In December 2022, Rouhollah Naqdipour, the secretary of the strategic council of the Department of Environment, announced that a roadmap for environmental protection had been developed.

The document presents 13 national macro strategies and 46 cross-sectoral measures for five main environmental challenges, he said, IRNA reported.

The 7-chapter book also suggests reforms for systematic purposeful solutions and policies to solve environmental issues including the water crisis, he explained.

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As per the Seventh National Development Plan (2023-2027), pollution control and environmental protection programs should be integrated with development projects.

According to the Constitution,environmental protection is considered a public duty.

Increasing environmental challenges have recently reached a crisis point.
Soil erosion, drought, dust, waste management, and air pollution, have not only been causing social, political and security problems inside the country, but also threatening future of Iran’s relations with its neighbors.

 Climate change

Due to its geographical, economic and climatic characteristics, Iran is one of the most vulnerable countries against climate change.

According to 2019 statistics, Iran is the first country in West Asia and the eighth country in the world in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide.

This situation is related to the lack of modernization and low industrial productivity and the non-optimal production and consumption of hydrocarbon products and improper development of clean and renewable energies in the country.

A large area of the country is prone to floods. The indiscriminate expansion of cities and the destruction of forests have exacerbated the situation, and the warming of the earth and the change in rainfall patterns have led to droughts and fires in forests.

Environmental instability

Environmental instability is particularly important in various risks and accidents such as droughts, dust storms, floods and earthquakes.

Affected by the destruction of the environment and climate change, people in Iran and West Asia may suffer from new diseases, and some animals may not survive because they cannot adapt to the new environment to meet their living needs, including drinking water.

Global warming

The average air temperature has increased by about two degrees in different regions of Iran from the calendar year 1300 to the year 1402 (from March 1921 to March 2023).

All the summers of recent years were unusually hot and dry compared to the past 20 years.

Very high temperatures and low humidity in the months of August and September were more than the long-term drought of the region.

If West Asia becomes drier in the long term due to climate change, dust storms will become more intense.

Greenhouse gases

In the Iranian year 1394 (March 2015-March 2016), Iran was the eighth producer of greenhouse gases in the world.

With the escalation of tensions with the United States and the withdrawal of the United States from the JCPOA in 2018, Iran has clearly announced that it will defer any climate action to the lifting of sanctions and the cooperation and assistance of the international community.

The government has been forced to use domestic oil and fuel oil to leave more gas for export. This issue has caused a significant increase in the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

 Destruction of forests

Over the last six decades, millions of hectares of the country’s forests have been destroyed. The area of forests decreased from 19 million hectares in the calendar year 1369 (March 1990-March 1991) to 10.7 million hectares in the year 1394 (March 2015-March 2016).

If we continue with this trend, there will be no trace of Iran’s forests by the next 75 years. Construction, illegal cutting of trees, overgrazing of pastures and forest fires caused by climate change and carelessness of some people are important factors of deforestation.

Soil erosion

Soil is the most important element in providing food security. According to a report approved by the Food and Agriculture Organization, Iran loses 2 billion tons of soil annually, which means that an average of 7 to 10 tons per hectare of Iranian soil is eroded.

Half of this amount is due to water erosion and the other half is due to wind erosion. Considering that the total soil erosion in the world is 24 billion tons, actually one twelfth of the total soil erosion in the world occurs in Iran.

Considering that Iran occupies one percent of the world’s dry land, the rate of erosion compared to its surface is 8 times the global average, one of the highest figures in the world.

Depletion of underground water tables

In the last two decades, about 100 billion cubic meters of surface and underground water resources have been taken on average annually for various purposes. This issue has had a lot of negative impacts.

Reduction of water level in wells, increase of salt water penetration into underground aquifers, and increase of land subsidence are some of the worrisome consequences of the situation.

 Water stress

Water stress is caused by unprincipled exploitation of water resources, especially underground water resources in the agricultural sector.

Very low productivity, losses of agricultural products and the lack of suitable prices for water and energy is a big challenge in all sectors, especially in agriculture.

Climate change, drought, inappropriate water transfer projects and non-observance of the principles and basics of land use in industrial activities have caused the emptying of underground water tables, drying up of rivers and wetlands, land subsidence, and the release of fine dust.

Land subsidence

It is estimated that about 66 percent of the country’s plains (about 12 million hectares) are subject to subsidence, which mainly occurs due to the extraction of underground water tables.

The average volume of natural renewable water resources is 110 billion cubic meters, and the amount of exploitable renewable water resources is estimated at about 70 billion cubic meters.

According to the Ministry of Energy, the amount of renewable water in the country has decreased from 140 billion cubic meters to 105 billion cubic meters from 2013 to 2018.

In the past years, 74 billion cubic meters more than the capacity have been removed from underground water tables and the trend is going on.

Loss of wildlife species

The environment is an ecosystem. If one component is removed, all the cycles that depend on it will be destroyed. National plans for the protection of species started more than 50 years ago in Iran and today nearly 10 percent of the country’s land area is protected. About 100 species of vertebrates are vulnerable or endangered.

Air pollution

In recent years, the number of days that Tehran and big cities have enjoyed clean and healthy air quality can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

The drying up of wetlands, the production of dust and industrial activities has been associated with the increase of particles and dangerous gases in the air, as well as the increase of pollutants in the air, especially in cities.

The industrial pollution of cities, which is mostly caused by the hydrocarbon fuels of the cars, makes it difficult to breathe, especially in the second half of the year due to the inversion of the air.

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The environmental support of APPCED should include more countries in the region and the world because trying to have a favorable environment is the duty of all of us, she added.

Rafiei made the remarks at the 20th Executive Committee Meeting of APPCED which is being held on June 14-15 in Seoul, South Korea, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

“In order to be more efficient, APPCED should formulate programs based on climate diversity as well as features, characteristics, and ecosystem of the region,” she stressed.

As a regional forum, APPCED has focused its activities on environmental protection and development and can be a role model for other organizations that are willing to take action against climate change, Rafiei highlighted.

“The Asia-Pacific region represents a diversified climatic, as well as rare animal and plant species.

In this regard, paying attention to endemics and sharing knowledge about them should be focused and prioritized.”

Therefore, the highest level of support should be given to measures that involve a larger number of countries, she suggested.

Such an approach can be adopted through signing memorandums of understanding, holding bilateral or multilateral meetings, and funding projects which can lead to regional solidarity, Rafiei concluded.

APPCED was founded in June 1993 by the Korean Parliamentary League on Children, Population, and Environment (CEP) following the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

The purpose of the inception was to organize meetings among member countries to seek joint measures against environmental concerns in the regions. Currently, it has a membership of 46 countries.

One of the measures taken by the Iranian government toward the development of environmental diplomacy was the holding of a regional summit on combating sand and dust storms last year.

The meeting was attended by ministers and representatives of regional countries and six international agencies, and its final statement was approved as the Tehran Declaration.

Hossein Mousavifar, an official with the Department of Environment, told IRNA that the participating countries were obliged to create an environmental fund and organization in cooperation with each other.

“In this regard, technical groups between countries have been formed. This was one of the initiatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Over the past year, the work on creating the environmental fund and regional organization has made good progress, and is almost at the final stage, the official noted.

Moreover, the Department of Environment will hold five international meetings in the current Iranian calendar year that started on March 21, DOE chief Ali Salajeqeh said in April.

“At least five international meetings will be held this year, one of which is the conference on combating sand and dust storms,” he added, IRNA reported.

“Environmental diplomacy is the main priority for the country’s political diplomacy. So, holding the conference on combating sand and dust storms is important for us.”

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Until now, 855 houses of environment have been established in the country with the participation of all institutions, public and private sectors, Abolqasem Mousavi, an official with the Department of Environment, has said.

By the end of the year, the number of the houses of environment will rise to 1401, IRIB quoted Mousavi as saying.

According to the Constitution, people should participate in environmental protection. This requires training, he stressed.

For this reason, the houses of environment were launched as a platform for interaction and understanding, as well as boosting effective cooperation between volunteers, environmentalists, and NGOs.

In September 2022, Mousavi said the Department of Environment plans to launch environment houses across the country.

Under the plan, a house in each province is considered a gathering place for environmental activists in different age groups, to be trained by related organizations, he explained, adding that students are prioritized and are the most important age group in education.

There is no capital more precious than the environment so NGOs should be supported, considering their help to the governments to support the natural and valuable resources of the country, he highlighted.

President Ebrahim Raisi has highlighted the importance of environmental protection, emphasizing that the preservation of the environment is prior to every development.

Environmental protection will lead to power, security, investment, and production growth in the country, he said.

Both people and NGOs have an effective role to play in the protection of the environment, and they should be given chance to play their role, he added.

The need to use new technologies and the ability of knowledge-based companies in the field of environment, solving issues and problems related to legal proceedings, attention to domestic and international diplomacy in the field of environment, attention to water transfer in the country from one region to another, attention to the dangers of trawling, attention to environmental water rights and also attention to land management were among the topics that were discussed in this specialized meeting.

On November 17, 2015, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, announced the general policies on the environment, emphasizing the need for comprehensive, harmonious, and organized management of vital resources based on ecological capability and sustainability, particularly by increasing capacities and appropriate legal and structural capabilities accompanied by public participation.

However, it seems that implementing the policies has not met its stated goals.

Ali Salajeqeh, the chief of the Department of Environment, has said after passing seven years, implementing the policies is not satisfactory.

The policies call for establishing a cohesive and national system on the issue of the environment.

Improving environmental conditions with the purpose of helping society enjoy a healthy environment, administering justice and observing intra-generational rights, preventing and prohibiting the circulation of all kinds of unlawful pollutants, recording crimes related to the environment, administering efficient and preventive punishment of polluters and destroyers of the environment and forcing them to compensate for their actions, were also among the policies.

Continuous refinement and control of air, water, soil, and noise pollutants, destructive waves and rays, and unfavorable climatic changes, and making compulsory the observation of environmental standards and criteria in implementing rules and regulations, development plans, and spatial planning, were other issues that the Leader urged officials to do.

In December 2022, Rouhollah Naqdipour, the secretary of the strategic council of the Department of Environment, announced that a roadmap for environmental protection has been developed.

The document presents 13 national macro strategies and 46 cross-sectoral measures for five main environmental challenges, he said, IRNA reported.

The 7-chapter book also suggests reforms for systematic purposeful solutions and policies to solve environmental issues including the water crisis, he explained.

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Of 31 provinces of the country, 22 provinces covering an area of 29.5 million hectares are affected by the plague of desertification.

In Iran, where most of the land is in either arid or semi-arid areas, drought and water shortages are becoming serious problems as a result of climate change, said Vahid Jafarian, an official with the Forests, Range, and Watershed Management Organization.

A lack of finance is one of the serious challenges and concerns in the field of dealing with desertification, he told ISNA.

The issue of financial resources is not the first and last issue, but coordinated planning and aligned policies and support of laws should be seen prominently in this regard, he stressed.

According to the studies conducted by the University of Tehran and the Ministry of Energy, about 88 percent of the country’s area is affected by desertification.

The concept of desertification refers to land destruction and vulnerability in arid and semi-arid areas, in terms of land mismanagement.

According to the studies conducted by the University of Tehran and the Ministry of Energy, about 88% of the country’s area is affected by desertification.In this situation, the biological capability and fertility of the land decrease and it is very difficult to return to the original conditions, Jafarian noted.

Desertification comes majorly from overexploitation of underground water resources and contamination of water through releasing industrial and agricultural waste into the environment.

Human activities are a primary cause of desertification. These activities include overgrazing of livestock, deforestation, over-cultivation of farmland, and poor irrigation practices.

Considering that Iran is located in an arid and semi-arid area, its vegetation is threatened by climate change and declining precipitation year by year.

30m ha plagued by wind erosion

The latest studies conducted in 2018 indicate that 30 million hectares of land in Iran are affected by wind erosion, of which about 14 million hectares are known as critical centers of wind erosion. These centers are areas that damage the biological and economic resources of the country, Jafarian explained.

Agricultural lands, roads, railways, industries, and all infrastructures in these areas are affected by wind erosion and are damaged.

Over $100m annual loss

According to the studies, wind erosion incurs a loss of at least 30 trillion rials (about $100 million) annually to the quality of life in villages located in desert areas.

If we want to just maintain the existing conditions, we must implement sustainable land management programs and combat desertification in at least one million hectares of vulnerable areas of the country per year, Jafarian said.

“One of the most important underlying causes of the intensification of wind erosion in the country, especially in recent years, is related to the way water resources are managed, the decline of underground water, and the lack of water rights.”

Plans to combat desertification

Iran is home to about 3.8 percent of the world’s total desert areas. Some 61 percent of the country’s area is covered by arid and semi-arid lands, which is 3.1 times the global average.

Many countries are working to reduce the rates of desertification. Trees and other vegetation are being planted to break the force of the wind and to hold the soil.

Iran has a 70-year history of dealing with desertification and dust control, with about 5 million hectares of planted forests in sand and dust storm hotspots, especially in areas with less than 50 mm of rainfall, Ali Mohammad Tahmasebi, head of the national working group for mitigating sand and dust storms, has said.

Studies by international organizations show that the Islamic Republic has recorded the highest number of reforested desert areas after China, he added.

Parviz Garshasbi, deputy head of the Forests, Rangelands, and Watershed Management Organization, has said that according to the Sixth National Development Plan (2016-2021), desert greening measures were to be carried out in 1,140,000 hectares of the country’s deserts, but so far, the operations have been conducted in only 350,000 hectares of deserts.

Between 2015 and 2020, approximately 12,000 hectares of forests across the country have been wiped out annually, the Organization has said, putting the country’s forests at 14.3 million hectares

To deal with the problem, the Organization has launched two comprehensive plans to mitigate desertification.

These projects include watershed management, aquifer, flood control, desertification, forest development, rangeland rehabilitation, conservation, and support projects aimed at conserving water and soil, protecting vegetation, preventing erosion, and reducing drought and nutrition damage.

The national budget bill for the current Iranian calendar year 1401, which started on March 21, has allocated 16 trillion rials (about $53 million) for watershed management, which is nearly fourfold the budget for the previous year.

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Stressing the importance of environmental measures to his department, Emadi said, “Fortunately, petrochemical complexes and plants have made significant strides in recent years in this regard.”

He said the sector’s move towards green and low-carbon operations was a strategy in all sectors of the industry, adding that greenhouse gas emission reduction projects are being implemented in petrochemical companies as Kermanshah, Razi, Maroon and Shiraz petrochemical plants have made great achievements in this field.

The official further said that Bandar Emam Petrochemical Plant had carried out a landfill project with 30,000 tons of capacity which is regarded as the first standard petrochemical landfill in the industry in Iran.

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Referring to US sanctions against Iran and their impact on Iran’s environment, Kalantari said Iran and other countries will face problems when sanctions are imposed on high efficient technologies.

Norway’s ambassador, for his part, maintained that the main concern of the Norwegian government is climate change and pollution of the oceans, emphasizing that Norway, unlike the US, will not put sanctions on environment and environmental technologies and will cooperate with Iran.

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Iran is firmly following its commitments to the Minamata Convention on Mercury and expects the convention’s directorate to comply with its obligations in the provision of facilitative grounds, a senior Iranian official said.

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Sourena Sattari made the remarks during his visit to the western province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari on Monday, IRNA reported.

It is the time to pay attention to modern industries through knowledge-based companies, he said.

Human resource and talented young experts are the main assets of knowledge-based companies and such an asset will not lead to economic favoritism, he added.

“Startups play a great role in Iranian market and the vice presidency supports startups in the field of healthcare and food,” he said.

Iran has more than 47 million active internet users, which create a big market in the region for ICT and IT based business, he said.

“We should trust young generation who transforms many ideas into products in places like science and technology parks,” Sattari said.

Role of universities should not be undermined

The universities have a great role in development of the country, he said.
The scientific development is a great infrastructure for other progresses in the country, he explained.

Science is the solution for the country’s problem, Sattari said.

The imposed sanction is a great opportunity for Iran, which develop self-sufficiency in the country, he added.

During his stay in Shahr-e Kord, Sattari visited the province’s science and technology park and some knowledge-based companies.

He also paid visit to Shahr-e Kord Multipurpose Gamma Irradiation Facility.

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