KHORRAMABAD, Lorestan Province - Mehrdad Fat’hi Beiranvand, the director of the Department of Environment of Lorestan Province, in an exclusive interview with the Tehran times, calls for paying special attention to Zagros forests to avoid a similar fate to those of Hamoun and Urmia lakes, which have been dying over the past years.

Following is the text of the interview:

Q. As a local official and environmentalist, what is your most important concern at this very moment that we are talking?

A. An important issue, and one that I am seriously worried about, and I always share it with [the head of the Department of Environment] Ms. Ebtekar, and others as well, is that of Zagros forests.

Although the existence of the country depends largely on Zagros forests, they have been threatened by different factors. I am sorry to say that out of six million hectares of the forests, 1.2 million hectares are already facing degrees of withering from 10 to 100 percent.

Nevertheless, it is not too late, and we are still able to help Zagros forests avoid similar fates like what happened to Hamoun and Urmia lakes. To do so, however, different measures are needed to be taken.

The first and the most important one is to build an environmentally friendly culture among people. Environmental training programs should be broadcasted by the mass media. Meanwhile, such courses should be held in schools, universities, mosques, and etc.

Given that humans account for more than 95 percent of the damage, they are very likely to change their attitude towards the environment if they realize the consequences of damage they are unknowingly creating.

The second measure is to crack down on violators. The current law is unfortunately not strong enough to stop people from cutting the trees.

It should be noted that the ecological value of an oak tree is estimated to be $200,000, but violators are just fined 200,000 rials (about $6) for cutting an oak tree. Hence, people will never fully comprehend the real value of an oak tree and cut it only for the sake of firewood.

The third measure should be taken by the Agriculture Ministry as well as the Nomad Affairs Organization to implement corrective policies proportional with ecological capacities of different regions.

The last measure would be to obtain funding in order to revive those parts of Zagros woodlands which have been damaged.

Q. How do you see your cooperation with the agriculture department in the province to stop the excessive ground water exploitation?

A. There are lots of common subjects between the two departments, but the provincial department of environment has a monitoring role. We are legally forbidden to interfere with other organizations and departments. However, the most important policy, stressed by Ms. Ebtekar and other officials at the Department of Environment, is a change in farming patterns with regard to water shortage problems.

There are unfortunately many products, cultivated in Lorestan, which are not only unnecessary, but they are also highly water-consuming.

In order to produce a kilo of watermelon, for example, around 500 liters of water is consumed. This is while watermelon is sold much cheaper than the water used for its cultivation.

On the other hand, there are many “strategic” crops which can be cultivated with much less water and are ecologically appropriate for the province.

The point is that the Ministry of Agriculture must revise policies and put them on the top of its agenda. It must prioritize the cultivation of plants in regard to ecological conditions, climate and water resources in each region.

Given that over 90 percent of our fresh water is used in agriculture, if right policies are implemented, we can surly tackle the water crisis.

On our side, we have already warned officials at the department of agriculture who have seemingly understood that they must revise their policies.

However, they must be prompt in turning those policies into practice without taking too long time. Expansion of fig gardens, cultivation of rice and excessive exploitation of water by hundreds of thousands of unlicensed water pumps led to the drought of Kashgan River. As a result, lots of aquatic animals were killed.

Meanwhile, over 800 million liters of ground water, according to statistics, are exploited every year in Lorestan, resulting in 55 percent decrease in ground water reservoir compared to previous years. Ground waters in the Kouhhdasht and Romeshgan plains have dried up completely. Meanwhile, unlicensed water wells have worsened the situation. There is no control even over the licensed ones. These are sample of the wrong policies which must be corrected by the Department of Agriculture as soon as possible.

Fortunately, meters have been installed on 1,000 water wells in Azna last year, and the same must be done to other wells in the province.

Q. Let’s turn to Gahar Lake resort. From an ecological perspective, the lake has the capacity to host 1,500 tourists every year, however more than 70,000 people visit the resort annually. What have you done so far to either increase the capacity or to keep the limit of the tourists visiting the lake?

A. Well, as you may know, Gahar Lake is situated in the heart of Oshtorankooh Mountain in a fragile and sensitive area where soil erosion is very high.

The protection of the lake was actually given to the department of environment last year after Ms. Ebtekar signed a memorandum of understanding with the governor of Lorestan Province. Since then, experts have conducted lots of studies on the lake and have suggested limiting the number of lake’s visitors. Otherwise, the fragile ecosystem of the area will be endangered.

They also suggested setting up some amenities in the area to decrease the damage and to prepare infrastructure which may take some years to be put into practice. But the important issue as far as the protection of the lake is concerned would be to educate people and let them know about the delicate condition of Gahar and invite locals to help us protect it as a common benefit.

Q. How do you evaluate the performance of NOGs in Lorestan Province? How is your relation with each other?

A. Given that environmental NGOs have a similar concern in protecting the environment, they are like the arms of the Department of Environment.

I do personally believe that our current ecological challenges are largely rooted in a general lack of awareness amongst the public. So, NGOs are the best in opening people’s eyes to such problems. Over the last two years, 38 environmental NGOs have been awarded operating grants in different cities of the province, which show a 40 percent increase compared to previous years.

Also a network of environmental NGOs, which is one of the most successful one in Iran, was set up to organize their activities to cooperate with us. NGOs have helped a lot in holding training workshops, to educate people, to plant trees and clean nature, etc.