Officials from Iran’s Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization, in an interview with the ILNA news agency on February 15, underscored that unless government financial support for the protection projects of the Hyrcanian forests in the north of the country increases by more than threefold from its current level, the area of these crucial forests is projected to diminish by about half within the next 50 years.
Concurrently, regime statistics from last summer also revealed that since 1979, 50% of the Hyrcanian forests have been decimated.
According to environmental experts, the neglect of environmental initiatives, deforestation for urban development, wildfires, the destruction of forest lands by government officials or farmers, villa construction, lack of regulation in natural recreation areas, population growth, escalation of wood smuggling due to poverty, as well as the establishment of oil and petrochemical industries, are among the foremost factors contributing to the degradation of the Hyrcanian forests over the past four decades.
The reduction of the Hyrcanian forests’ expanse from 3 million hectares to less than two million hectares in recent decades, some parts of which are between 40 and 60 million years old, poses an imminent and monumental environmental catastrophe for the inhabitants of northern Iran.
Nevertheless, the regime continues to allocate a significant portion of its oil budget to proxy forces and military organizations rather than prioritizing vital areas such as environmental conservation and natural resources within Iran.
Stretching from the city of Astara in the Republic of Azerbaijan to the city of Golidagh in Golestan province, the Hyrcanian forests, while only 60 hectares are within the Republic of Azerbaijan, are recognized as shared natural heritage between the two nations and have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Consensus among experts underscores a drastic decline in the quality of northern forests over recent decades, with tree coverage decreasing annually across much of the Hyrcanian forest region.
Each year, thousands of hectares of Iran’s forests succumb to wildfires, exacerbated by the lack of proper firefighting equipment, including extinguishers, blowers, and water-spraying aircraft.
In many large-scale fires in the Hyrcanian or Zagros forests, local forces and villagers often resort to rudimentary tools like shovels and buckets to combat the blaze due to inadequate resources.
In recent years, significant socio-economic damage has been inflicted upon the country’s forests, particularly in the north, including the activities of 30,000 livestock units and the habitation of 74,000 rural households, resulting in irreparable harm to forested areas, rendering many barren and devoid of tree cover.
Another adverse consequence of forest depletion is the increased incidence of floods in the northern regions of the country.
