A suspicious wildfire swept through the Miankaleh protected area in the east of Mazandaran Province once again and burned at least 50 hectares of vegetation in the area.
This is the sixth time that natural areas of Miankaleh have fallen victim to flames this year, raising suspicion as to the cause of the incident.
According to a member of Zagh Marz Village Council, the blaze started on Wednesday near a livestock building and was put out after midnight by park rangers, firefighters and locals.
"Plants that had dried up in the summer heat made the operations tougher, but it was finally contained," said Jamal Aboutalebi Abdolmaleki.
He mentioned human error as the cause of the incident adding that whether or not it was intentional is being investigated.
Based on official reports, fire has destroyed over 600 hectares of forests and vegetation of Miankaleh over the past two years. The last incident on Aug. 11 had consumed 200 hectares of vegetation alone.
Rumors go round among locals that the blazes are intentionally lit by offenders who seek vengeance on environmental authorities, possibly for restrictions enforced on any interference with the natural areas.
Officials have neither confirmed nor dismissed the claims but the director of legal affairs at the provincial office of the Department of Environment had earlier told IRNA that two cases in relation to arson in natural resources had come to court this year.
Need for Tougher Line
According to Tahereh Haghighat, the main motive behind possible arson is expanding private ownership across natural lands. She had called on the judicial bodies to help tackle the problem by passing verdicts proportional to the crime.
Environmental cases are considered by court based on Article 13 of the Hunting and Fishing Law and are eligible for level-five punishment under the penal law.
Punishments are divided into eight categories from toughest to lightest in the Islamic penal law.
This means offenders will be fined from 10 million to 85 million rials ($85-$724) or sentenced to imprisonment terms from 91 days to three years.
Environmental experts believe that the punishments' deterrent effect is by no means sufficient.
Miankaleh peninsula is located in the southeastern end of the Caspian Sea, 12 kilometers north of Behshahr in Mazandaran Province. The long and narrow peninsula expands across more than 68000 hectares of area.
It homes Miankaleh Wetland, Iran's first international wetland in the Ramsar Convention, and is among the richest ecological havens in West Asia.
The region is home to many unique Caspian bird and reptile species native to this region. It is also a very important internationally recognized refuge for migratory birds.
The peninsula is an international UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and on the national level, it is protected under the Wildlife Refuge status by the DOE.
