Land grabbing with a completely legal appearance; issuing a judicial ruling to dedicate thousands of hectares of forests in northern Iran

The Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic of Iran, approving the endowment deed for 5,600 hectares of forest habitats in Mazandaran, voted to make these lands available to the endowment holder.

Iranian domestic news agencies reported that after several judicial proceedings based on the Mazandaran Natural Resources and Watershed Management Complaints Office, the Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic finally ruled in the final stage, in a ruling that resulted in the seizure of the best forests near the city of Sari, that these forests were endowed according to the document presented by a person.

This action caused some news agencies and websites to refer to it as deforestation and taking advantage of legal conflicts to seize national lands.

Mohsen Mousavi, Director General of Natural Resources and Watershed Management of Mazandaran, stated that the land in question belongs to one of the best forests in that province in the village of Aqhamshah, and said: "The trustee of the endowment has requested to receive the land and cut down the trees, but in our opinion, their endowment is questionable and we expect a re-examination."

Reza Aflatoni, the director general of the legal office of the Forestry Organization, also called this action "land grabbing with a completely legal appearance," in an interview with another news agency inside Iran, saying 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 to individuals comes at a time when Iran's forest cover has been severely damaged and requires intense protection due to natural and human-induced damage, including drought, deforestation, land use change, and fires. The destruction of vegetation in Iran's natural areas has caused various environmental crises, including increased flooding and dust.

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: Voice of America