Environment

PayvandNews – A Persian leopard has been captured alive in Razavi Khorasan Province, northeast of Iran. The Managing Director of Environment Department of Razavi Khorasan, Touraj Hemmati, said on Sunday that following a series of attacks by a leopard on the herd dogs in a village located on the edge of Tandoureh Protected Area in the north east of Iran, …

Radiofarda – A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck near the city of Ahvaz in southwest Iran, the Mehr news agency reported on Thursday. The quake struck at a depth of 14 kilometres (8.7 miles), acccording to Mehr. The agency did not provide any information about possible casualties or damage. (Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

Radiofarda – While eight Iranian ecologists have been under “temporary detention” since January 2018, the head of the Islamic Republic’s judiciary says only intelligence authorities are allowed to “comment” on their legal case, and “the judge will decide their fate.” In a meeting with several ecologists on Saturday, July 13, the mid-ranking cleric Ebrahim Raeesi (Raisi) responded to questions concerning …

PayvandNews – Some 25,000 hectares of Hyrcanian Forest in northern Iran undergo fragmentation mostly due to land use changes for agricultural and residential purposes, wood smuggling and overgrazing, an official with the national network for environmental and natural resources organizations has said. Unfortunately, lack of supervision and protective measures is exacerbating the condition for Hyrcanian Forest, ISNA quoted Masoud Molana as …

Radiofarda – The onset of extremely high temperatures in parts of Iran might lead to electricity shortages, the interior minister has warned and ordered conservation. In the oil-rich Khuzestan province, southeast, temperatures are expected to hit 49 degrees Celsius (120 F) on Sunday and Monday. The governor of the province has ordered office work hours to be reduced to 12:00 …

Radiozamaneh – Gholamhossein Esmaili, the Iranian Judiciary Spokesperson announced that the trial of the group of environmentalists who were charged with national security crimes will resume in upcoming weeks. “The espionage case is related to those who were spying from military sites undercover of environmental activists,” he told reporters. Iranian Judiciary has accused eight Iranian environmentalists of spying and they …

PayvandNews – On June 30, the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee kicked off in Baku, Azerbaijan, to assess 36 nominees, including Iran’s Hyrcanian Forest, for possible inscription on the World Heritage list. Representatives of about 180 countries are attending the event, which will be running through July 10. And of the nominees 28 belong to the cultural sites, …

CHRI – Iran’s judiciary has violated at least seven laws in its handling of the cases of eight wildlife conservationistswho’ve been detained on unfounded espionage charges since January 2017, according to the detainees’ families. In a letter addressing Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi, the families noted violations including torture, reliance on forced false “confessions” in the place of evidence, denial of counsel, and denial …

Radiofarda – In an open letter to the head of the Islamic Republic judiciary, some relatives of eight imprisoned ecologists in Iran have called for the immediate release of their loved ones. The families who signed the letter insist that eighteen months after their detention, the Justice Department and “intelligence agents” affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) have …

PayvanNews – The Persian Gulf is one of the most populous and environmentally-sensitive regions in the world. Consequently, it is no surprise that Gulf states are increasingly dependent on desalination for their drinking water. But that dependence carries severe risks in a region as volatile as the Gulf has been, especially in light of recent tensions between the United States …