Environment

Iranwire.com – Every Saturday, the National Coronavirus Taskforce reports the level of coronavirus alert in Iranian cities. During the last week in December, no city in Iran was in a red state of alert, but this week the level of alert in four cities in the northern province of Mazandaran reverted to red, raising concerns that, at least in parts …

VOA – Heavy snowfall has killed 12 climbers in mountains north of Iran’s capital, Tehran, while rough waters capsized a ship in the Persian Gulf and left its crew missing, state media reported Sunday. Heavy snow and high winds in several parts of Iran in the past few days have closed many roads and disrupted transport. The bodies of two …

Iran-HRM – Reports from the Great Tehran Penitentiary indicate that the food quality in that prison is catastrophic. Prisoners cannot even eat the food. Recently, the food usually does not contain any meat, but when it does, it has a bad color and odor. Prisoners in the GTP say it might be the meat of dead animals. The cooks put …

Radiofarda – An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.5 struck northwestern Iran, near the border with Turkey, state media reported.The official news agency IRNA reported on December 20 that the quake struck the region of Qotur in Iran’s West Azerbaijan Province at a shallow depth of 5 kilometers.IRNA did not report if the quake had caused any casualties or damage. …

nationalgeographic.com – Just a few decades ago, Iran boasted the greenest government in the Middle East. An expansive national park network protected species found almost nowhere else in the world. The nation’s rivers delivered potable water; air pollution was minimal. But now, the parks are being subsumed by development. The country’s waterways are withering away, in no small part because neither …

(HRW) – Iranian judiciary authorities are prosecuting human rights defenders for reporting abuse in detention, Human Rights Watch said today. Since September 2020, the authorities have brought charges against two imprisoned activists who had published letters alleging mistreatment.On October 18, Emtedad online news channel reported that in the previous week, authorities had charged Niloufar Bayani, an environmental conservationist serving a 10-year sentence after an unfair …

PayvandNews – The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) will launch a campaign for the third time to solicit public donations to ease water stress in four provinces of the country. The long-standing 20-year-old drought in the region is forcing many to have to provide their water from tank trucks delivering water to the areas. The campaign has three main aspects, …

PayvandNews – Twenty-one Asiatic cheetahs have been observed in the north-central province of Semnan since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21), Amir Abdous, head of the provincial department of environment (DOE), has announced.  Emphasizing that the plan to preserve the cheetahs in Iran is to protect it in its natural habitat, he said that the success …

Radiofarda – An Iranian Forestry Organization official denied on Wednesday that the harvesting and smuggling of soil in Iran’s UNESC World Heritage-designated Hyrcanian forests has reached a threatening level. Abbasali Nobakht, the Forestry Deputy of the Iranian Forestry Organization, admitted he could not deny that there was soil stealing in the Caspian Sea-adjacent forest region, claiming that “some people may …

PayvandNews – The coastal village of Darak in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan has recently been inscribed on the National Heritage list, CHTN reported. Located between the two important port cities of Chabahar and Bandar Abbas, Darak is one of the few places in the world where the sea and the desert meet. Darak or Darag in the local language means settling …