TEHRAN – The budget of Golestan National Park, northern Iran, will rise to 300 billion rials (nearly $7.5 million) in the next Iranian calendar year, starting March 21, 2018.

The national parks budget for the current year has increased by threefold, Sa’eed Namaki, a senior advisor to the Department of Environment said, without providing further details.

“This is the first time that we see a threefold increase in national parks budget,” ISNA quoted Namaki as saying on Friday. “We believe that spending on environment and health is nothing but investment [on the future].”

Namaki touched upon the damages that have been imposed on the national park by civil developments and stated “this park is one of the significant biosphere reserves and if we don’t address its problems now, no trace of it will remain in the near future.”

“Preserving the environment without the help of people and national mobilization will not deliver the desired results. We have diverse ethnic groups in this region and all of them can cooperate in environment preservation,” noted the senior advisor.

“One of our future policies is to encourage local communities for environment protection and old hunters are among the most important figures in this regard” said Namaki, suggesting, “We should benefit from the valuable and vast experiences of these individuals”.

Spreading over 91,895 hectares, Golestan National park is a protected area situated in the eastern part of Golestan province and western area of North Khorasan. The national park is home to more than 200 animal and about 1,300 plant species. 
 
MAH/MQ/MG