Villages and inhabited areas across the country have been excluded from the borders of protected areas following the latest decisions made by High Environment Council, which is considered to favor both the local people and the surrounding environment.
"The overlapping or even proximity of villages to protected areas inevitably imposed limitations on rural development, somehow turning people against Nature," Ali Teymouri, director of the Conservation, Hunting and Fishing Office at the Department of Environment, said.
"For instance, 25% of Khalkhal City's rural areas in Ardabil Province were shared with natural reserves. That prevented investors and contractors to start new construction projects, for the regulations of preserved areas ban any sort of construction activities," Zist Online quoted Teymouri as saying.
However, the conflict was prevented, thanks to the recent amendments in the environmental directives.
Excluding villages from natural reserves shrank the protected areas to some extent and drew the ire of environmental activists, but DOE officials maintain that it does not exceed 0.3% of the total.
Regulations set for protected areas had not been revised since past 40 years, when the country was inhabited by only 30 million people. With a population of over 80 million and changes in climatic status, vegetation, biodiversity and urbanization, amendments seemed necessary.
Earlier in late February, the High Council for Environment held a session to study and approve the status of 11 protected zones and revise the borders of 28 others.
The 28 zones had reportedly lost their ecological value due to urban or rural development in their vicinity and changes in their natural surroundings, but were causing multiple economic and social issues for the residents.
They cover an area of 77,000 hectares and are spread over 12 provinces.
"The priority of DOE is to widen the borders of natural reserves as much as possible to facilitate environmental protection, but lack of enough park rangers and workforce is a major obstacle," he said.
There are 282 areas under the protection of DOE that are categorized into "Protected Area", "National Park", "National Natural Landmark" and "Wildlife Refuge".
