TEHRAN- With the approval of the cabinet of ministers, no project will be allowed to be implemented across the country unless its environmental permit is issued.

Proper environmental permitting minimizes the odds of a company’s operations harming the natural environment or the health of the people.

A notification is given to the responsible institutions saying the implementation of any plan or project without environmental assessment and license is prohibited.

Since the current administration took office two years ago, it has repeatedly emphasized that the issue of environmental protection is its red line.

The proof of the claim is the order to stop the implementation of big petrochemical projects harmful to the environment, which were approved by the previous administration, IRNA reported.  

Eco-friendly measures

President Ebrahim Raisi has highlighted the importance of environmental protection, emphasizing that the preservation of the environment is prior to every development.

Environmental protection will lead to power, security, investment, and production growth in the country, he said.

Both people and NGOs have an effective role to play in the protection of the environment, and they should be given a chance to play their role, he added.

On November 17, 2015, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, announced the general policies on the environment, emphasizing the need for comprehensive, harmonious, and organized management of vital resources based on ecological capability and sustainability, particularly by increasing capacities and appropriate legal and structural capabilities accompanied by public participation.

However, it seems that implementing the policies has not met its stated goals.

Ali Salajeqeh, the chief of the Department of Environment, has said after seven years, implementing the policies is not satisfactory.

The policies call for establishing a cohesive and national system on the issue of the environment.

Improving environmental conditions with the purpose of helping society enjoy a healthy environment, administering justice and observing intra-generational rights, preventing and prohibiting the circulation of all kinds of unlawful pollutants, recording crimes related to the environment, administering efficient and preventive punishment of polluters and destroyers of the environment and forcing them to compensate for their actions, were also among the policies.

Continuous refinement and control of air, water, soil, and noise pollutants, destructive waves and rays, and unfavorable climatic changes, and making compulsory the observation of environmental standards and criteria in implementing rules and regulations, development plans, and spatial planning, were other issues that the Leader urged officials to do.

In December 2022, Rouhollah Naqdipour, the secretary of the strategic council of the Department of Environment, announced that a roadmap for environmental protection had been developed.

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.

MT/MG