Iranian Environmental Official: We’ve Lost 70% of Prominent Wildlife Species

The deputy for natural environment at Iran’s Environmental Protection Organization said on Sunday that over the past half-century, 70 percent of prominent wildlife species have been lost.

Hasan Akbari stated on Sunday, March 13: Many species, including the Asian leopard, are also on the brink of extinction.

According to him, to save the environment, we must turn to participatory measures and seek solutions that directly involve citizens in the process of protecting the urban environment.

The remarks by this Iranian official come as calls for direct citizen involvement, while in recent years environmental activists have been detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and faced security charges, including espionage and “corruption on earth.”

Among these activists, Sam Rajabi, Sepideh Kashani, Amirhossein Khaleghi, and Abdolreza Koohpaee, Morad Tahbaz, Niloufar Bayani, Taher Ghadirian, and Houman Jokar have been held in detention since 2017.

Kavous Seyed-Emami was also one of the accused in this case, who died in prison days after his detention, and judicial authorities announced his death as “suicide.”

While the Ministry of Intelligence and other officials of the previous government had stated that these individuals were not spies, the judiciary and intelligence services of the Guards insist on their claims.

Source: Radio Farda