TEHRAN – President Masoud Pezeshkian has emphasized the need for environmental protection and the sustainable use of biological resources, with an emphasis on safeguarding the rights of future generations, Shina Ansari, the head of the Department of Environment, has said.

“At a time when our beloved country is facing the economic consequences of two unjustly imposed wars, President Pezeshkian’s emphasis on environmental protection, the sustainable use of biological resources, and environmental justice grounded in the rights of future generations is a source of encouragement and serves as our guiding principle at the Department of Environment,” Ansari wrote on her X account.

On Sunday, Pezeshkian paid a visit to the Department of Environment to review the latest environmental challenges in the country, particularly those caused by the recent imposed wars, international measures, and the plans for the post-war period.

During the meeting, Ansari detailed widespread environmental destruction and ecocide in the US-Israel aggressions against the country, noting that before the war, the DOE had corresponded with its counterparts in the region, the international organizations, and the United Nations Environment Program, warning of the consequences, ISNA reported.

The official highlighted that the DOE has documented all environmental destruction, and a detailed assessment of the extent of the damage is underway.

The DOE has recently held a meeting with the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Inger Andersen, discussing ways to expand cooperation on documenting war environmental impacts in the country, she noted.

She also expounded on a new campaign, titled ‘green Muharram’, which has kicked off with the beginning of the first lunar month. The campaign aims to save energy consumption, manage waste, and utilize the potential of religious rituals of Muharram to promote social responsibility and develop the culture of environmental protection.

The official went on to say that the future plans of the DOE rest on utilizing up-to-date knowledge, scientific capacities, and public participation to improve the environmental condition of the country.

‘We are all responsible for environmental protection’

On the occasion of World Environment Day, observed on June 5 every year, and National Environment Week, marked from June 6 to 12, President Pezeshkian underlined the shared responsibility of each individual for the protection of the environment, saying, “We all bear the responsibility to care for the environment,” underscoring Article 50 of the Constitution, which regards the protection of the environment as a public duty, IRNA reported.

“World Environment Day and Week warn about the present and the future of life on Earth,” he wrote on his X account.

All governments and societies need to prioritize the sustainability of natural infrastructures in any decision and action, he added.

Measures adopted

In an online meeting on Friday, Ansari and Andersen, discussed ways to expand cooperation on documenting war environmental impacts in the country.
During the meeting, Ansari detailed the environmental impacts of the war on the country, IRNA reported.

Air strikes on Shajareh Tayyebeh school (in Minab, Hormozgan province), oil storage facilities, petrochemical plants, and industrial centers have led to widespread fires, dissemination of toxic pollutants and greenhouse gases, soil and water pollution, degradation of natural ecosystems, and decline in biodiversity, she said.

Highlighting the role of UNEP in supporting the environment amid conflicts, Ansari called on UNEP to support the DOE through holding training courses for experts affiliated with the department on documenting the environmental damage and pursuing legal actions against perpetrators

The official also invited UNEP international experts and technical teams to pay a field visit to Iran and assess environmental damage first-hand.

For her part, Andersen censured the US-Israeli strikes on Iran’s environment and environmental facilities.

The official said that the UNEP, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), is ready to hold specialized training courses on documenting environmental impacts of war for Iranian experts and provide technical support to them.

The DOE is supposed to introduce a group of experts to the UNDP secretariat to follow up on the discussed issues, and Iran’s ambassador to Kenya will also do needed arrangements.

Hamid Zohrabi, an official with the DOE, in an official letter to the executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, has elaborated on the detrimental impacts of the war on the biodiversity, and irreparable damage to ecosystems.

The letter has confirmed clear violations of the articles of the convention, considerations of human rights, and the goals of Kunming Montreal global biodiversity framework, calling on the executive secretary to take a more active role in protecting biodiversity, and release a formal statement to censure this war and its environmental impacts during the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which will be held in October in Yerevan, Armenia.

Iran has already launched a comprehensive legal and technical inquiry into the extensive environmental degradation caused by the recent American-Israeli campaign of aggression, characterizing the strikes as a calculated assault on the nation’s ecological health and natural heritage.

Attending the 6th Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Ministerial Meeting on Environment, held on June 3 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, elaborated on the 40-day US-Israel attacks on Iran’s environment and civilian infrastructures, describing the assaults as war crimes with irreparable damage to protected areas, the Persian Gulf, and the Sea of Oman.

She urged the international community to condemn these attacks and take action to stop such measures, saying that inaction in the face of such crimes would weaken confidence in international mechanisms.

“Strengthening regional multilateralism and cooperation among member states will contribute to keeping destructive trans-regional forces away from the Economic Cooperation Organization member states,” she added.

Ecocide in an unjust war

According to Article 55 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, the natural environment must be protected against widespread, severe and long-term damage in armed conflict. The 1976 Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Hostile Use of Environmental Modification (ENMOD) also prohibits any hostile use of environmental modification with widespread, long-lasting or severe effects.

Nevertheless, the US-Israeli attacks, with the widespread explosion of oil storage facilities in Tehran and Alborz provinces, the release of large amounts of air pollutants, and the encirclement of Tehran with a layer of smoke, are a clear example of “ecocide” or “environmental crime.”

Destruction of infrastructure, explosions, fires, and pollutants from military operations have severe and long-term effects on soil, water, air, and wildlife.

According to Ansari, this inhumane act represents a serious threat to the lives of innocent people and civilians who, in addition to severe mental and emotional trauma, must endure the dangerous environmental consequences of this unjustly imposed war.

MT/MG