The Rouhani government's continued secrecy and contradictions regarding the endowment of Mount Damavand and the forests of Sari
A week after Hassan Rouhani called the dedication of part of Mount Damavand a “rumor,” a government official implicitly confirmed the dedication, but at the same time called it “minor.” Issa Kalantari, head of the Environmental Protection Organization, said in an online conference on Monday, August 4, that the dedication of the “Damavand Range” dates back 400 years and “does not even reach 100 hectares,” adding that 400 hectares of its pastures have also been dedicated in the case of the Aq forest in Mashhad, Sari.
The Rouhani government's secrecy!
Although the head of the Environmental Protection Agency tried to downplay the dedication of these two areas of natural resources, his statement at least showed that the dedication of both the Damavand region and the northern forests was correct.
Last week, the news of the endowment of one of the Damavand ridges was met with reactions from users on social media. In order to conceal the truth, the Islamic Republic officials denied the issue of the endowment of these two areas. Even Hassan Rouhani called the proposal to endow Damavand and the Sari forests an enemy rumor.
The contradiction in the statements of the Islamic Republic's officials comes while documents indicate the endowment of several plaques and a ridge of Mount Damavand, from the slopes to the summit; a mountain that, as one of the symbols of Iran, was registered as the first national natural monument on the list of national monuments 18 years ago.
Green light for land grabbers
Environmental activists, including Mohammad Darwish, have said that the Mellar range they are talking about continues up to an altitude of 5,100 meters and near the peak.
Mohammad Darwish said: "Mount Damavand cannot be bought or sold, and no one has ever owned it, and it is impossible for anyone to endow a place that does not have a private owner, so this whole thing is strange. If the Endowment Organization can declare part of Damavand as an endowment, this is a green light to the land-grabbers, mountain-grabbers, and forest-grabbers."
In recent weeks, the Director General of Natural Resources and Watershed Management of Mazandaran also announced that the Supreme Court had approved the endowment of 5,600 hectares of the Aq Mashhad forests in Sari, and said that the endowment requested the cutting of trees.
The Director General of the Legal Office of the Forestry Organization also called this action "land grabbing with a completely legal appearance" and said that such decisions are issued when a person or organization has legal backing to seize state and national lands or seizes national lands by abusing shortcomings and conflicts in laws.
The transfer of thousands of hectares of forests in northern Iran, including Damavand, to individuals under the pretext of endowment comes at a time when the environmental crisis in Iran has long attracted the attention of the international community. US officials have also repeatedly warned against the mismanagement of Iran's natural resources, widespread deforestation, and unnecessary and unplanned dam construction aimed at lining the pockets of corrupt officials of the Islamic Republic regime, and have cited it as one of the main factors in the emergence of various environmental crises, including devastating floods and unprecedented droughts .
For example, not long ago, Brian Hook, the US Special Representative for Iran, pointed out that 600 dams have been built in Iran "without any environmental assessment" after the revolution, and announced that the Islamic Republic regime has destroyed the country's water resources through mismanagement over the past forty years.
Source: Radio Farda
