100,000 Hectares of Iran’s Forests Destroyed each Year

In an interview with the Iranian regime’s Parliament News Website on Friday October 14, Abbas Papizadeh, Dezful representative, stated that in the past two decades on average 100,000 hectares of Iran’s forest area has been reduced each year and stressed that the few remaining forests should seriously be protected.

One of the plans which has long been put on the agenda of the Environment Protection Agency and presented to the Parliament after being approved by the cabinet, is a 10-year respite plan for forests.

Describing forests’ condition as critical, Papizadhe told the Parliament News Agency: “according to Forests Respite Plan, legal exploitation of forests will not be allowed for a while in order to let forests reach a desirable and appropriate state. During the time the plan is in place, only dry and infested trees may be cut down.”

Yet, he warned that legal permission to log the dry and infested trees may also be used as an excuse for deforestation.

A 10-year opportunity for forests

Ali Mohammad Shaeri, Behshahr representative in the Parliament, criticizes the indiscriminate exploitation of forests as well and points out that a continued deforestation process during the past decades has caused the northern forest area be reduced from 3,200,000 hectares to 1,090,000 hectares.

Shaeri says that the ‘Parliament’s Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources Commission’ has suggested that as a first step, industrial exploitation of the northern forests be reduced.

According to this plan, exploitation of the northern forests should be reduced by 20 percent each year, being completely stopped in a 5-year period.

The chairman of the Parliament’s Agriculture Commission pointed out that the amount of wood smuggled from northern forests each year is estimated to be 3,000 cubic meters.

Considering the long deforestation process, some experts believe that a 10-year respite period would not be enough for reforestation and this will require a longer planning./ NCRI