Protecting nature as a habitat for various animal species is of great importance, but in the past few years, the impact of climate change and humans’ unwise and selfish exploitation of nature has almost destroyed it.

If it goes on like that, soon there will be no habitat or animal left on the earth. Finding shelter to live in, breed, and raise children is the basic need of not only humans but all the other creatures on the earth, whether on land or in the sea.

The animals need security, but humans pursue their work failing to see them considering the whole earth as their own inheritance. While the earth belongs to all its inhabitants, humans’ intervention in nature has made the habitat of animals unsafe and more and more cramped, a real challenge for the environment and its creatures to meet.

Iran, having a diverse climate, is home to many plant and animal species which increases the importance of habitat protection. The vertebrates include 165 species of mammals, 517 species of birds, 209 species of reptiles, 174 species of fish, and 22 species of amphibians.

However, issues such as indiscriminate construction, mineral exploration, road construction agricultural land development, and climate change have all caused habitats of animals and plants to be reduced year after year. Eventually, their disappearance and extinction will be inevitable because of their disturbed habitat.

The Iranian lion and the Mazandaran tiger, which no longer exist, are typical examples of disappeared animals that cannot be brought back.

Bringing subspecies of them into the country, they will face the challenge of being in an improper habitat

We live on a planet that is rich in biodiversity. About two million species have been identified across the globe, but scientists estimate that there are over 10 million species. They all need a dynamic nature for life and breeding, but we humans have destroyed a large part of it throughout history, especially in the last few decades, at a shocking pace.

The preservation of the habitats guarantees the protection of the country’s genetic reserves, food security, and the reduction of the country’s natural hazards.

However, the destruction of natural habitats will affect the lives of humans, as well as animals, since a large amount of water, food (fertile soil), and air needed is provided by nature.

If habitat destruction does not stop, many plant and animal species are predicted to become extinct in the next 50 years.

World Habitat Day history

In 1985, the United Nations designated the first Monday of October of every year as World Habitat Day to reflect on the state of our habitats, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter.

The Day is also intended to remind the world that we all have the power and the responsibility to shape the future of our cities and towns. In 1986, the first World Habitat Day was celebrated in Nairobi, Kenya. The theme of that year’s World Habitat Day was – Shelter is my right.

For this year, the theme is – Resilient urban economies. Cities as drivers of growth and recovery. “Given the size of the contribution of cities to the national economy, the future of many countries will be determined by the productivity of their urban areas. Cities are the engines creating the value that boosts economic recovery.

For this economic growth and recovery to be sustainable, we need cities that can absorb, recover, and prepare for future economic shocks [OECD, 2023]. It is crucial that this is also packaged under the green recovery framework that scales up private and public investments to finance the transition to a climate-neutral economy in a post-COVID world,” wrote a press published by the United Nations website.

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The largest amount of the budget is related to watershed management and aquifer management with a budget of 13 trillion rials ($34 million), ISNA quoted Mostafa Jalili, an official with Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization, as saying.

Important issues such as employment, production and people’s livelihood, water, agriculture and environment, watershed management, and aquifer management have been taken into consideration in the 1402 budget bill, he explained.

“Among other important issues that are specifically mentioned in the budget bill is the issue of drought. Considering the location of the country in the arid and semi-arid region and the impact of climatic conditions on the state of water resources, this vital element is very important,” he added.

In the current year, some 26 trillion rials ($65 million) has been allocated to protecting natural resources in the fields of watershed management and soil protection, protection and sustainable exploitation of forests and pastures, and desertification, he noted.

President Ebrahim Raisi submitted the administration’s draft of the national budget bill for the next Iranian calendar year 1402, which starts on March 21, to the Majlis on Wednesday.

The proposed budget amounted to about 52.616 quadrillion rials (about $131 billion), with a 40 percent rise from the current year’s budget.

The president mentioned stable economic growth, people’s livelihood, observing justice, and efficiency of the government system as the main approaches of the budget bill and stated: “In this bill, the establishment of a progress and justice fund in all provinces is foreseen so that the development credits of the provinces are paid systematically.”

On January 8, Hossein Mir-Rajabi, an official with Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization, said the Organization plans to benefit from the experiences of knowledge-based companies toward preserving natural resources.

Utilizing the capacity of knowledge-based companies in the field of making systems smart, stopping the unauthorized change of use in agricultural lands and natural resources, and implementing projects to revitalize pastures have been considered, he added.

Seven programs namely smart controlling and monitoring of natural resources, formulating and implementing the revitalization plan, enriching pastures, creating a comprehensive natural resource management system, launching a national dispatching center, manufacturing firefighting equipment domestically, developing the Internet of Things, and smart irrigating of plantations have been prepared in this regard.

The Ministry of Agriculture has allocated 311 billion rials (about $775,000) to the projects, the official added.

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

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.

He listed the five major environmental challenges of the country as the imbalance between water resources and consumption leading to drought, soil erosion, waste and sand and dust storms, air pollution in metropolises, destruction of biodiversity and genetic resources, and imbalance between the environment and industrial and civil development.

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Some 83 percent of the lands are presided over by the Organization, including forests and pastures, ISNA quoted Hossein Mirzaei as saying on Monday.

On a large scale, the government is not able to manage these areas alone. Therefore, there is a need for people’s participation to preserve natural resources, he further stated.

Nature partners are people such as farmers and those who implement projects to protect natural resources.In this regard, we have a project called ‘Partners of Nature’ which is defined in three levels of students, promoters and partners among different classes of people. So, some 215,240 people are recruited as nature partners in order to educate, promote and attract people’s participation.

Every nature partner can be a factor in promoting the culture of natural resource protection. Therefore, their task is mostly in the field of cultural development and executive works of the natural resources week, including planting saplings.

Nature partners are people who are mostly present in the field of natural resources, such as farmers, operators and implementers of natural resources projects, who can help us in the protection department.

Referring to the education of students, he said that a new program will be compiled by the end of the year (March 2023), through which, 250,000 students across the country will be educate about preservation of natural resources.

Lack of environmental defenders

Currently, 5,000 rangers are active to protect natural resources, however, one protection force is needed for every 2,000 hectares of forest and one protection force for every 10,000 hectares of pasture, Ali Mohammadi Moghaddam, deputy commander of the protection unit of the FRWMO said.

According to Mohammadi Moghaddam, there are currently 135 million hectares of forests and pastures in the country, with one ranger per 6,000 hectares of forest, and one ranger per 30,000 hectares of pastures.
The number of rangers in Iran is one-tenth of the global standard.

Qasem Sabz’ali, former commander of the forest protection unit of the Forests, Range, and Watershed Management Organization, said in April 2018 that some 15,000 hectares of forests burn in wildfires annually in Iran that 95 percent of them are caused by humans.

Forest wildfire brings a heavy economic burden amounting to 560 million rials (about $13,000) per hectare for the country, he added.

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“A sum of 3.9 trillion rials (nearly $14.1 million) has been spent on these projects,” ILNA quoted Masoud Mansour as saying on Tuesday.

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, he explained.

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

With the implementation of watershed management projects, 9 tons per hectare of water erosion has been reduced annually, and in mountainous areas, 570 cubic meters of water have been extracted per hectare.

Moreover, some 1000 cubic meters of water per hectare is stored in underground aquifers and prevents the entry of 4 cubic meters of sediment behind the dams.

Iran to be among countries with over 10% of forest

Mansour further expressed hope that with public participation in the implementation of these projects, a big step to be taken towards improving the level of natural resources and watershed management, stating that 500 million saplings were planted within 14 years with the participation of people and 70 institutions in the form of a campaign called “green and strong Iran”.

According to the campaign, 6,700 hectares of land throughout the country will undergo vegetation planting this year based on the ecological potential of the regions.

Iran is one of the countries with low forest coverage, however, the country will be among the countries that are covered by forest by more than 10 percent, by the end of the campaign, he also said.

Ali Banagar, head of the forestry scientific association affiliated with the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, said in December 2021 that the trend of deforestation in Iran is worrisome.

“Apart from natural factors, villa and road construction, development projects, dam construction, wood smuggling, encroachment on forests and land grabbing, forest fires, coal mining, livelihood activities including agriculture, providing fuel and excessive livestock grazing, social and economic problems, and exploitation of natural resources, pests, environmental pollution and landfills, and many other factors have reduced the quantity and quality of forests.

Each of these variables has increased or decreased in recent years, but the result is alarming,” he explained.

Between 2015 and 2020, approximately 12,000 hectares of forests across the country were wiped out annually, Reza Bayani an official with Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization, said.

He went on to say that the country’s forests are estimated at 14.3 million hectares, the country’s northern forests have been estimated at 2,080,000 million hectares about 60 years ago, and today it is stretching to 2,004,000 hectares taking replanted areas into account.

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