Environment

Radiofarda – Maryam Mombini, the wife of environmentalist Kavous Seyyed Emami, who died in custody at Evin prison in Tehran in February 2018, has arrived in Canada after nearly two years of being barred from traveling abroad after her husband’s mysterious death. Kavous Seyyed Emami was jailed with several other environmentalists who are still in prison for alleged espionage. However, …

lobelog.org -As tensions flare in the Persian Gulf, the news media has wondered whether Iran and the United States’ exchange of escalatory rhetoric and retaliatory measures will spark an international crisis. News agencies have ignored a development with just as grave implications for Iran, however: the acceleration of global warming. Iran has often struggled with desertification, extreme weather, water scarcity, and environmental …

Iran-HRM – The Iranian regime sentenced 86 people to a total of 2,580 lashes and 344 months of prison for protesting water diversion to an IRGC linked steel mill in Isfahan. The Borujen Criminal Court in the southwestern province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province tried 103 protesters for “disrupting public order and peace” and “disobeying government agents on duty” on …

PayvandNews – A long-awaited bill on protection of animals which had been proposed over 3 years ago was finally brought to the Majlis (Iranian Parliament), ISNA news agency reported on Tuesday.  Since 2016, some animal cruelty cases have been spotted in the country which mounted public criticism and pushed the Majlis to pass a law against cruelty to animals. cartoon …

lobelog – While Western think tanks have drawn attention to droughts and floods in Iran, the news media has ignored another critical environmental issue there: deforestation. Between 1900 and 2012, Iran’s forest acreage decreased from 19 million acres to 14.4 million, shrinking to 10.7 million by 2015. That year, Esmail Kahrom, an advisor to the Iranian Environment Department, predicted, “With the current deforestation, Iran will …

PayvandNews – Although Iran is the only country which can save the precious species from disappearance, conservation projects fall into a single solution of captive-breeding. Cheetah’s captive-breeding is not necessarily an inefficient plan, nonetheless concerns come up from recent unsuccessful projects. Will the endangered beauty surpass its unknown fate and escape extinction? Asiatic cheetahs are globally “Critically Endangered” according to the …

PayvandNews – Severe sand and dust storms (SDSs) has left 127 patients hospitalized due to respiratory problems in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, head of provincial disaster mitigation and management organization has said. So far, 465 people have referred to hospitals due to respiratory, ocular and heart problems, 338 of whom have been provided with outpatient care, while the rest …

CHRI – Wildlife conservationists Niloufar Bayani and Sepideh Kashani have been detained in Iran without due process along with six other conservationists since January 2019. Niloufar Bayani and Sepideh Kashani, two of the eight wildlife conservationists detained in Iran since January 2018, began a hunger strike on August 3, 2019, a source with knowledge of their cases told the Center for Human Rights …

Radiofarda – The World Resources Institute’s (WRI) latest report says that Iran, along with Israel, Lebanon, and Qatar, are struggling with an “extraordinary water crisis.” The three are among the most water-stressed countries, according to the new data, consuming an average of 80% of their available water resources every year. Under these circumstances, “even small dry shocks – which are …

HRW – At least two environmental experts detained in Iran since January 2018 have likely embarked on a hunger strike to protest their continued detention after many months in legal limbo, Human Rights Watch said today. Authorities should ensure their adequate access to medical treatment.  They are among eight environmentalist experts detained for over 18 months without being provided with the evidence concerning …