A top environmental official dismissed reports of a disruption in the UN's financial support for the Asiatic cheetah protection program led by Iran's Department of Environment.
"The relationship between the United Nations Development Program and the cheetah conservation initiative has never been cut, despite assumptions to the contrary. In the interval between the second and third phases of the project, funds from the UNDP were used to pay the personnel, organize training activities and conduct research," Hamid Zohrabi, DOE's deputy for natural environment, told ISNA on Friday.
Despite measures to protect the critically endangered cheetah, the species is still hovering on the threshold of extinction. This has prompted Iranian officials and global conservationists to join forces to protect the animal.
With support from the UNDP, the DOE initiated a comprehensive and ambitious long-term program, called the Conservation of the Asiatic Cheetah Project, in 2001 to pull the wild cat back from the verge of extinction.
A report published by the Guardian last December claimed the UN had decided to withhold funding to comply with the international sanctions against Iran.
The report quoted the Iranian conservationist Jamshid Parchizadeh as saying, "Lack of funding means extinction for the Asiatic cheetah, I'm afraid. Iran has already suffered from the loss of the Asiatic lion and the Caspian tiger. Now we are about to see the Asiatic cheetah go extinct as well."
Domestic Issue
But Zohrabi described the snag in the joint conservation effort as a domestic issue, saying it has nothing to do with the UNDP's role.
"Exactly how we should participate in the CACP was a point of difference, over which we were facing many challenges from the oversight bodies. Fortunately, thanks to a determined effort by the DOE, the issue was resolved and we received the license to contribute our share of the project."
DOE has yet to decide the exact amount of the budget to be allocated to the protection project in its third phase, he added. Once roaming vast habitats from the Arabian Peninsula to India, the Asiatic cheetah only survives in Iran today. Environmental organizations have recently intensified a campaign to shore up the rare cat's sparse population, estimated to be fewer than 50.
