TEHRAN - In the Seventh Development Plan of I.R. Iran, whose general policies were announced on September 2022 and the text of the bill was sent to the Iranian parliament (Majlis) for approval on May 2023, the “environmental issues” are mostly cited under the heading of "infrastructural affairs".

The importance of Iran's environment and protection is not taken considerably into account in the implementation of the 7th development plan of I.R. Iran, and we believe that various parts of Iran's life territorial stability, and national security will be exposed to more threats and gradual destruction.

Drought, population increase, air pollution, climate change, industrial and agricultural production, sanctions, inefficient use of water and natural resources, and non-implementation of existing environmental regulations fuel the existing environmental crisis.

Inadequate water resources force people to migrate and the problems of big cities increase with marginalization. The aquifers are being drained. Air pollution has made living conditions in Iranian cities increasingly challenging.

Wind erosion increases the desertification of agricultural lands and creates a demand for more production in the remaining cultivable areas.

Biodiversity is under threat. On the other hand, the future of Iran's environment is greatly endangered by the development plans and annual plans that are implemented as emergency and urgent solutions one after the other.

Water transfer programs to the central plateau are a symbol of unsustainable development, and in addition to pollution and back-breaking costs for Iran's national economy, it will be the source of new environmental crises in the source and destination of water transfer.

The big challenge of the development programs in Iran is that without looking at a long-term strategic plan for the country and based on urgent and emergency cases at any point of time when the plan is being compiled, the list that according to the experts and executive managers has been reached as The clauses of the program have been paid.

In the approval of the 7th Development Plan in November 2023 in the Parliament (Majlis), these items were added to the 7th Development Plan as amendments in the field of environment:

- Clause A of Article 22 of the 7th Development Plan Bill; All new large projects and large development plans that have been evaluated for environmental effects must be assigned within a maximum period of three months if approved by the environmental organization.

- Additional Clause 1, Article 22 of the 7th Development Plan Bill; The Environmental Protection Organization was obliged to formulate the country's climate change management plan during the first year of the plan.

- Additional Clause 3, Article 16 of the Seventh Development Plan Bill; They mandated the Environmental Protection Organization to prepare the national strategic plan for waste management at the end of the first year of the 7th Development Plan and get it approved by the Council of Ministers.

- Part 4, Clause T, Article 33 of the Seventh Development Plan Bill; The Ministry of Jihad of Agriculture was obliged to pay the costs of water and soil operations, reconstruction and renovation of canals and modern irrigation systems in agricultural lands free of charge.

- Additional Clause 2 of Article 34 of the Seventh Development Plan Bill; Cultivation of any transgenic product produced inside or outside the country on the country's lands is prohibited; Also, importers and producers of food and beverage products that use transgenic raw materials are obliged to insert labels on these products.

- Clause D of Article 38 of the 7th Development Plan Bill, the Ministry of Economy was required to collect half a percent of the value of water-rich agricultural and food products exported against the cultivation pattern every year, and the resulting income is available for the implementation of watershed projects and the cultivation pattern and the installation of smart meters for agricultural water wells. The Ministries of Agriculture and Energy are placed.

- Clause B, Article 39 of the Seventh Development Plan Bill; The water needed by the water-bearing industries, except for the food, sanitary, and drinking industries, is supplied from wastewater and unconventional water.

- Clause P, Article 40 of the Seventh Development Plan Bill; In order to ensure the sustainability of underground water consumption in critical plains, the representatives determined a mechanism in this field, while obliging the Ministry of Energy to install counters in order to manage over-absorption of water resources.

- Article 41 of the seventh development plan bill; The release of contaminated water and the contamination of surface and underground water sources were prohibited. Notes 1, 2, and 3 of Article 41 of the 7th Development Plan Bill oblige the Ministry of Interior to prevent the leakage and infiltration of waste and the release of leachate into water and soil sources in coordination with municipalities and rural districts.

- Clause D of Article 44 of the 7th Development Plan Bill, in order to transform Iran into a regional energy hub, a regional energy trade management headquarters will be formed. Additional Clause of Article 57 of the 7th Development Plan Bill; They obliged the Environmental Department of Iran to restore sensitive habitats, especially aquatic habitats with endangered species.

In the 6th national development plan (2017-2021 with a two-year extension), the priorities were more focused on development than the previous plans, although some considered the 6th plan to be environmental.

In that program, the government was obliged to carry out four basic axes in the field of environment.

Reducing the emission of environmental pollutants, preventing the destruction and pollution of the environment, preserving and restoring biodiversity, and finally environmental governance.

In that program, 4 goals were foreseen to reduce pollutants: development of low carbon economy, development of green technology, improvement of air and water quality, and control of greenhouse gases.

It is necessary to mention the fourth to sixth development plans that the view was based on development especially agricultural development, which is not true.

Although environmental aspects are mentioned in the sixth development plan it was not implemented and there was no executive guarantee for it.

The importance of the environment in development plans in the years after the Islamic Revolution: The first development plan after the Islamic Revolution for the years 1990-1994 was approved and started.

Among the objectives of the first five-year plan, the tenth objective indirectly had environmental consequences: "Spatial organization and geographical distribution of population and activities, in accordance with the relative advantages of each region, excluding those required by political and military considerations".

In the second five-year plan, in the 10th goal, the environment was specifically addressed "Environment preservation and optimal use of the country's natural resources."

In Article 61 of the third five-year plan, it was mentioned that the exchange of agreements for new for-profit and non-profit construction projects will be allowed only after the following steps have been taken: "conducting studies based on the existence of technical, economic, social, and environmental justification".

In the fourth five-year plan, in Article 3 - to maximize the efficiency of non-renewable sources of energy, optimization, and upgrading of technology in production, consumption, as well as energy-consuming equipment and facilities, duties were specified for the government.

The issue of the environment, especially from the fourth development plan, received more attention than in the past, and the weight and impact of the environment in the development plans has increased, and its scope has gradually expanded to various sectors that have an impact on the environment, in a way that reflects they can be seen in the form of increased provisions in development programs (especially the fourth development program) so that environmental protection approaches were turned from reactive and passive approaches to persistent and active approaches.

In the fifth five-year development plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran 2011-2015, there was no special section for the environment.

However, it dealt with the environment in some articles: Article 140 Water resources: - For the purpose of comprehensive (connected) management and sustainable development of water resources in the country:

A - In order to create a balance between feeding and harvesting from underground water tables in all plains. The country, Ministry of Energy was obliged to implement the following: 1- Structural and non-structural projects in all plains of the country, with priority on water-prohibited plains.

License 3- Installation of volumetric meters on all drilled water wells with a license at the expense of their owners. 4- Implementation of support and incentive policies. 5- Implementation of the country's water management system based on three national, catchment, and provincial levels

Article 148- The government is obliged to take the following actions in order to improve the exploitation pattern of forests, pastures, water and soil:

A- Substitution of fossil fuel and renewable energies instead of wood fuel

B- Development of wood farming and intensifying the fight against smuggling of wood and forest and pasture products and removing the import tariff of wood and the possibility of importing unprocessed wood, C- Organizing forests and supporting livestock production industries, D- organizing construction in forest areas based on relevant laws and regulations, E- developing hand-planted forests, F- implementing watershed operations up to the level of eight million hectares until the end of the program, G- implementing desertification operations and controlling crisis centers.

Article 192- In order to reduce polluting and destructive factors of the environment, Article 193-A- For the municipality of cities with a population of over two hundred thousand and coastal cities and cities on the edge of internal wetlands in line with urban waste management, B- The Environmental Protection Organization for the necessary measures to reduce air pollution to the extent Global standards.

C- From the second year of the program, any new industrial and mining exploitation of internal wetlands is absolutely prohibited.

D- Due to the special conditions of the country's wetlands, the government is obliged in the first year of the program, by reorganizing existing organizations in the water, agriculture, natural resources, environment, and tourism sectors, to apply integrated management with the participation of users in the plains around this Wetlands to take action.

In the 6th Development Plan: Section 8 - Water, Article 35 - the government is obliged to deal with the water shortage crisis, release environmental water rights for the stability of the land, stability, and increase production in the agricultural sector, balancing the underground aquifers and improving productivity and compensating the water level, to the extent that in the final year of implementation of the law, the program will be eleven billion cubic meters, take measures.

And in section 9- Environment and natural resources: (Included in a separate heading): Article 38- The government is obliged to take the following measures to protect the environment: A- Supervision of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in development policies and programs and impact assessment.

Environmental (EIA) large projects of all executive bodies and private and cooperative sectors, non-governmental public institutions in the territorial area, including commercial and industrial free zones, based on indicators, rules, and criteria of environmental sustainability.

B- Implementation of the action plan for the protection, restoration, management, and proper exploitation of the country's wetlands with the participation of other executive bodies and local communities, especially in relation to the wetlands registered in the Ramsar (1971) Convention, so that by the end of the implementation of the program law, at least twenty percent (20%) of the critical wetlands and be revived under the threat of the country and be in the process of recovery while protecting and stabilizing.

By:  Environment Branch of the Academy of Sciences