TEHRAN – Eskandar Firouz, founder and first head of Department of Environment (DOE) in Iran, passed away at the age of 93.

Today’s DOE was first set up as a fishing and hunting regulatory agency by Firouz who was called the father of Iran’s environment protection, headed the department for 10 years and was the first person who actually introduced the concept of environment to the Iranian within a legal framework, Mehr reported on Wednesday.

Firouz was the first-ever Iranian appointed as the vice-president for United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm in 1972. He was a member of the presiding board of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1973-75. 

With his efforts, four protected areas of Iran were designated as national parks, wildlife refuges, protected areas, and natural national monuments.

In an interview with Zistboom, an environmental website, published on March 5, 2015, Firouz regretted that not so many countries in the world has ever harmed its environment as Iran. So, managers must understand that environment should be a priority in all decision making processes.  

FB/MG