TEHRAN – The Department of Environment (DOE) has developed a five-year monitoring plan to prevent the catastrophic wildfires, exacerbated by the drought, in four main types of areas, including national parks, wildlife refuges, protected areas, and national nature monuments.

The initiative aims at preventing and promoting preparedness against wildfires, involves ongoing specialized training. Benefiting from the participation of local communities and the capacities of nongovernmental organizations will contribute to lowering damage and increasing resilience in Hyrcanian forests, IRNA quoted Hadi Kiadaliri, an official with the DOE, as saying.

The official made the remarks in a meeting held on Monday, focusing on ‘fire management in Hyrcanian forests’, with the provincial managers of DOE in Mazandaran, Golestan, Gilan, and Semnan provinces in attendance.

The participants discussed developing institutional capacities and effective prevention strategies, while elaborating on executive and educational dimensions as well as participatory approaches.

The Hyrcanian forests contain the most significant natural habitats for in situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the perspective of science or conservation.

Combating wildfires necessitates stricter laws

Wildfires in forests and pastures increased by 27 percent in terms of frequency, and 299 percent in terms of affected areas from the beginning of the Iranian year 1403 (March 20, 2024) till June 21, 2024, compared to the same period in the year before.

Accordingly, it is essential to enact strict laws to mitigate fires in forests and pastures, IRNA reported.

In recent years, fire has been one of the main factors devastating large parts of forests and pastures in the world and Iran, bringing along severe consequences such as loss of biodiversity, emission of CO2, global warming, and climate change, which worsen wildfires.

A review of the wildfires over the last decade shows that more than 90 percent of the wildfires in the country are caused by humans, indicating the ineffectiveness of laws on the protection and preservation of forests and pastures, hunting and fishing, as well as clean air laws.

According to the Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization, from 2007 to 2019, wildfires have imposed a loss of nearly 17 thousand billion rials (about 11.89 million dollars), while some 211 million rials (about 3,240 dollars) were spent on extinguishing fires in each hectare, and 240 million rials (around 147,000 dollars) were spent on the restoration of the burned forests.

Fires, unlike other natural hazards, can be controlled and mitigated, as well as prevented through adopting preventive measures and policies.

A comparative study of the laws in Iran, France, Turkey, and South Africa shows that, in general, fighting fires in forests and pastures can be classified into three main parts, including measures to be taken before, during, and after the fire.

Hence, it is necessary to pass a specific law on combating wildfires in forests and pastures, or simply add an amendment titled ‘protection’ (against fire, pests, diseases, and climate change) to the existing law on the protection and preservation of forests and pastures.

MT/MG