The History of the Department of Environment
Similar to many countries around the world during the last century, the destruction of the environment and the unchecked utilization and exploitation of natural resources in Iran have been significant, and the acceleration in this trend lead to the establishment of an independent organizational body called “the Hunting Association of Iran” in 1956 with the aim of maintaining the prey population and monitoring the implementation of the relevant rules and regulations. Following the ratification of the Law on Hunting and Preys, the Organization for Hunting Management and Monitoring Preys replaced the Association in 1967. Based on the latter law, the Organization for Hunting Management and Monitoring Preys consisted of the Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Finance, Minister for War, and six other qualified experts. According to Article 6 of the abovementioned law, the responsibilities and duties of the Organization for Hunting Management and Monitoring Preys exceeded the limits of monitoring and executing the regulations governing the act of hunting to include research and investigation activities related to the wildlife, breeding and increasing the number of wildlife, protecting their habitats, and allocating a number of locations as wildlife parks and zoological museums.
In 1971, the name of the Organization for Hunting Management and Monitoring Preys was changed to the Department of Environment, and the name of the ‘Supreme Council on Hunting Management and Monitoring Preys’ was changed to the Supreme Council of Environmental Protection, and environmental affairs, such as preventing destructive activities for maintaining the balance of the environment, were added to its responsibilities. In 1974, after the International Conference on the Environment in Stockholm, and the ratification of the Law on Protection and Improvement of the Environment in 21 Articles, this organization gained new legal authorities, and with regards to organizational structure, it gained aspects and qualities compatible with the requirements of the development and expansion programs.
In pursuit of one of the main objectives of the Department of Environment, i.e., developing regional, national, and international research plans and projects on environmental issues, the Department of Environment as the representative of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran started a partnership in 2005 with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to create an international project with the aim of mitigating or eliminating threats and maintaining the sustainability and survival of Iranian wetland ecosystems in general.
From the start of the Conservation of Iranian Wetlands Project (CIWP), the Department of Environment has supported the CIWP through providing administrative infrastructure for establishing the main office for the project, allocating national funds to general environmental protection organization of Iranian provinces in order to advance the goals of the project and develop and implement ecological management plans for the wetlands, as well as leading the project by the representative of the Department of Environment as the national implementation body for the project. It is worth mentioning that currently the Deputy for the Maritime Environment and Wetlands of the Country is the representative of the Department of the Environment leading the CIWP.