APPENDIX 1.

Case Studies - Executive Summaries

• Islamic Republic of Iran
• Oman
• Tunisia
• Ethiopia
• Mali
• Namibia

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS (FAO)

GOVERNMENT OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

FAO-NETHERLANDS PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMME SUPPORT TO
SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT IN LOW FOREST COVER COUNTRIES

By

Salah Rouchiche and
M. A. Haji Mirsadeghi
Rome, August 2002

FOREWORD

According to FRA 2000⁴, 71 countries, most developing, have a forest cover of less than 10 % of their land area. The open-ended International Expert Meeting on Special Needs and Requirements of Developing Low Forest Cover Countries (LFCCs) and Unique Types of Forests, held in Teheran in October 1999, agreed to prepare proposals to secure international support to sustainable forest management in LFCCs. The Netherlands approved support to targeted outputs and activities as a follow up to the “Teheran Process”. Country studies for Africa and the Near East regions were selected to outline the causes and effects of deforestation and degradation together with lessons learned and priority needs to enhance the role of planted trees. The Islamic Republic of Iran, as one of the country case studies selected, is detailed in this report.

OVERVIEW AND COUNTRY CONTEXT

Government and administrative set-up and organization

The 1979 Islamic Revolution resulted in the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran. At the top of the government structure is the Faqih⁵ who is the ultimate decision-maker. Below the Faqih, a distinct separation of power exists between the executive and the legislative branches. As of 2000, Iran was divided into 28 provinces (Ostans) and 293 counties (Shahrestans) headed respectively by a Governor General (Ostandar) and a Governor (Farmandar).

Planning procedures

Regional Development Programmes proposed by provincial ministry offices are submitted to the central government respective ministries for approval. After review and tuning, they are adjusted to amount to a National Development Programme that is submitted to the Majlis for approval. The individual programmes and associated budgets then are passed to each ministry for implementation.

Environmental characteristics

Iran covers an area of 1.65 million km², enclosed within 8,731 km of frontiers, of which 2,700 of coastline boundaries, and 6,031 of land borders. Almost 60% of the country is mountainous⁶, while deserts⁷ of the High Central Plateau cover one third of the territory. Environmental characteristics are as follows:

Climate: Owing to its highly contrasted topography, Iran displays a variety of climates ranging from hyper arid (centre and east regions) to Mediterranean semi-arid and sub-humid (mountain regions) and humid (Caspian coastal area, west Azerbaijan and southwest Zagros mountain range). Temperatures vary considerably (-30⁰C to +50⁰C). With its mean annual rainfall of 253 mm, Iran is drought-prone; precipitations being erratic and highly variable.

Biological resources: Being endowed with a rich diversity of ecosystems, plant and animal species, Iran is one of the world’s most important gene pools; it counts 8,200 plant species (1,900 endemic), over 500 bird species and 160 species of mammals. Five plant species, 20 mammals, 14 birds, 8 reptiles, 2 amphibians, 7 fish and 3 invertebrates are considered either endangered, or threatened and vulnerable.

Land and water resources: Historical evidence indicates that the vast, arid areas of central Iran were once covered with valuable range and forest vegetation. Human activities are believed to have strongly contributed to desertification. The main land use categories of Iran are the following:

• Forests [12.4 million ha - 7.4% of territory];
• Rangelands [90 million ha - 55% of the country];
• Deserts [34 million ha - 21% of the country];
• Cultivated lands [23.6 million ha – 14.4 % of territory]) exceed by far the forest land area;
• Urban and rural settlements, infrastructures and water bodies (4 million ha - 2.2% of the national territory).

The total potential arable land amounts to 37 million ha (17 million ha under irrigation – 20 million ha rainfed).

Surface water and groundwater resources: Divided into 37 basins and 174 watersheds⁸, the country is drained by 3,450 permanent and seasonal rivers. The Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea receive the highest flows. In 1996-97 precipitation generated 330 billion cubic metres (BCM) of surface water, 130 BCM renewable water and 126 BCM harvestable water resources, of which 87.5 BCM were harvested (94 % used by agriculture). About 70 BCM groundwater, were discharged in 1996 by 275,300 semi-deep wells, 100,700 deep wells, 46,700 springs and 32,000 qanats.

Population demography and employment

The population reached 63.9 million in year 2000 with a density of 38.77 persons/km². The growth rate has changed from 3.1% [1956-1966], to 1.5% [1991-1996]. It is estimated that 61.3% and 38.7% of the population live in urban and rural areas respectively. The 1999 literacy rate⁹ was 83 %. The 1996 economically active population¹⁰ amounted to 16,027,223 (26.68 %), of whom 90.9 % were employed. The 1999 manpower in agriculture was 3.5 million. About 17% of women are involved in farming activities, 46 % employed in the service sector and 34.5 % in the industries (1996 est.).

Main production systems

The main production systems are:

Agricultural cash crops: There are four agricultural crop production systems:

• Intensive, modern, and often irrigated cash crop production confined to the most fertile lands gained over forest and range area¹¹;
• Intensive, horticultural production of a vast variety of tropical, sub-tropical and alpine crops. The area under orchards is still growing, as is the modernization of the existing orchards;
• Mixed, generally rain-fed subsistence production based on subsistence crop cultivation and extensive livestock rearing practised on a permanent basis on small farms, in not too steep terrain; and
• Subsistence shifting cultivation mixed with extensive “free grazing” livestock rearing. Hardly productive, this very marginal subsistence cropping is practised by forests and rangelands dwellers.

Extensive animal husbandry: The extensive animal husbandry systems are:

• Nomadic, rare in Iran;
• Transhumant, practiced by 200,000 pastoralists who move between the summer and winter rangelands of the Zagros;
• Sedentary animal husbandry practiced by 1,473,000 farmers, in a mixed farming scheme with animals in support of agricultural production; and
• Pastoralists are granted usufruct-grazing rights or “grazing license” issued for the same land that was used by family ancestors, to avoid unnecessary conflicts.

Status of agricultural sector in national economy

Agriculture is one of the most important economic sectors in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Value added in agriculture increased from Rls. 5,585.3 billion in 1989 to Rls. 8,395 billion in 1999, achieving an average annual growth of 4.9 % during the decade. The share of agriculture in total GDP has been variable, ranging from 19.4 % in 1989, to 16.2 % in 2000. In terms of value added, the highest share within the sector occurred in farming, horticulture and animal husbandry. The share of forestry in added value within the agricultural sector has barely evolved passing from 1.2% of the total value added of agriculture in 1989, to 1.1 % in 1999.

CURRENT STATUS AND MANAGEMENT OF FORESTS AND RANGES

Forest and range data and information systems

A detailed, authoritative statement describing Iran’s forest and range situation in quantitative terms is currently impossible. The Forest and Range Organization (FRO)’s capacity to manage land resources at national and sub-national levels is being strengthened to be able to operate and manipulate digitized geographic information and prepare digital land occupation maps at required scale.

Forest and range surveys

The first forest inventory was performed in the Caspian Forest in 1965; and the latest (1995), with a periodicity of 10 years, focused on the Caspian and Central Zagros Forests. At present, a national inventory is being carried out based on random sampling, while the productive forests are surveyed based on systematic sampling. FRO’s provincial offices are undertaking local land use planning studies and maps at scale 1:50,000; they have already covered about 20 million ha.

Forests and rangelands global estate

Forests and rangelands were nationalized in 1962 and their management entrusted to FRO. As a result of losing ownership and usufruct rights, the ex-owners and the traditional forest dwellers/users lost interest and sense of responsibility towards sustaining and protecting forests and rangelands, used since without restraint to face growing demands that came with population growth. Forests occupy 12.4 million ha (7.4 % of country) and include 1.9 million ha of productive commercial forests. The rest amounts to 5.5 million ha (West and Zagros), 2.5 million ha (South and desert), and 2.5 million ha in other regions. Rangelands include lands covered by natural grassland, shrub-land and a combination of both. Iran’s rangelands occupy 90 million ha (54.8% of country area); the condition of 16% of the rangelands is excellent, whereas 66% are in favourable to fair condition and 18% are in poor and degraded form.

Deforestation

The overall deforestation figure for the period 1958–1994 is widely accepted as being equal to about 5.6 million ha. The presentation that follows gives the rates of deforestation according to the widely accepted classification of forests in Iran:

• Caspian broadleaf deciduous forest (1.5 million ha);
• Arasbaran broadleaf deciduous forest (100,000 ha);
• Zagros natural forests (1.7 million ha);
• Irano-Touranian Central Forests (2 million ha); and
• Semi-savannah subtropical forests (300,000 ha).

Rangeland degradation

The total rangeland area may have decreased by 10 million ha between 1972 and 2000. In terms of qualitative appreciation, the ratios have changed to the worse since the area of good rangelands dropped from 19 million ha to 9.3 million ha. While there is substantial rangeland improvement taking place under management schemes and livestock population control, there is also considerable degradation and clearing affecting the quality and surface area of rangeland and pastures.

Change in vegetation cover

No assessment has been made with regard to the forest annual cover change. However, considering that the present deforestation is limited, the average annual plantation rate of 63,000 ha should result in a slight positive change in national vegetation cover.

Extent of natural and planted forests, rangelands and planted resources

Natural forests

From a forestry point of view, Iran is divided into five vegetation regions as follows:

• Hyrcanian broadleaved forests¹² [1.905,000 ha] along the Caspian coast;
• Arasbaran forests [150,000 ha] of North Western Iran;
• Irano-Touranian arid forests [2,895,000 ha] in the Central Plateau Region;
• Zagrosian forests [5,050,000 ha]; and
• Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman tropical arid forests [2,400,000 ha].

Planted forests

During the period 1960-1999, afforestation amounted to 2,221,000 ha total area planted (all categories inclusive). The annual rate forest plantations establishment is 63,000 ha, the majority being implemented under government investment. Tree species planted are generally limited to indigenous or acclimatized exotic species. To ensure maximum success, most plantations are irrigated during 2-3 seasons. Water shortages are a major constraint to planting, particularly in arid zones. Site preparation costs are high, and establishment of irrigation facilities very expensive. The State grants substantial support to promote private investment in fast growing tree species plantations (poplar), which amount to 150,000 ha of which, 35% are young stands.

Trees outside forests (TOFs)

The present evaluation of TOFs in Iran is incomplete for lack of comprehensive data and information. In 2000 it was estimated that orchards accounted for 1,704,000 ha, about 14 % of the total forest area of Iran. Collaborative efforts between FRO, municipalities, NGOs and citizens’ groups have led to the establishment of a quite dense network of urban and peri-urban forests in Iran, estimated in 1996 to be 530,288 ha (mean annual area treated 3,760 ha). Urban and peri-urban forestry is gaining momentum in the country and many provinces have developed their own urban forestry establishment programme.

Rangelands

The Technical Office of Rangelands (TOR) puts rangelands into Mountainous and Plains categories. Mountainous and upland summer grazing rangelands, characterized by their cool summers, cover 23 million ha and produce over 6 million tons of dry matter; they are able to support 54 million animal units for 100 days per year. Plains and lowlands winter and fall grazing rangelands cover 67 million ha and produce 4.5 million tons of dry matter equivalent to 2.47 million tons useable total digestible nitrogen.

Socio-economic significance of forests rangelands and planted resources

Natural forests and rangelands

According to the TOR (2000), some 916,000 households regularly utilize rangelands, of which 200,000 are transhumant families of the Zargosian region. About one half of the sedentary livestock breeders (1,473,000) depend partially on natural rangelands and pastures to meet their animal feed requests. The livelihoods of some 464,000 dwellers of the Hyrcanian depend on overgrazing, illegal exploitations and converting forests to agriculture and rangelands. The human pressure on the Irano-Touranian, Persian Gulf and Ommanain regions is less intensive; however, degradation persists owing to poverty that compels communities to make full use of the resources. The national wood production saves the state economy about US$ 437,048,000 of hard currency annually while 31% of the annual meat production of Iran, equivalent to 218,000 metric tons (MT), is associated with rangelands. The main socio-economic issue is related to the 1962 land nationalization process, which failed to put in place effective state alternatives to the former traditional protection/management/utilization systems, leaving a void that still persists in some areas.

NWFPs

The actual consumption and levels of exploitation of non-wood forest products and range by-products appear to be very important, given their popularity and regular presence in rural as well as urban markets. This justifies that FRO has prepared and is implementing management plans for NWFPs over an area of 2.2 million ha. The main NWFPs are dye extracts, medicinal plants and exudates. Other NWFPs include aromatic plants and essential oils, honey and edible foods, particularly nuts. The internal marketing value of NWFPs and range by-products is difficult to assess, as to their commercial value; it was estimated at US$ 10,119,382 and US$ 7,811,338 respectively for 1988 and 1999.

Contribution of forests and rangelands to employment and revenue generation

More than 5 million people live in forests or in their vicinity. There are 7,453 permanent and 12,831 temporary employments related to forestry activities, while some 40,000 persons are employed in connection with wood industry. With regard to rangelands, some 452,000 persons live permanently on the rangelands, while 2,500 individuals have a permanent job and 2,122 others benefit from temporary jobs. The exploitation of 28 items of NWFPs and range by-products has provided 12.8 billion Iranian Rials of revenues that could be equated to 3 months of wages provided to 25,108 households every year.

Management, rehabilitation and extension objectives, achievements and perspectives

Forest management: Forestry has been initially developed with a strong emphasis on introducing exotic tree species and using western European silviculture to manage the commercial broadleaved forests of the Caspian Sea region, which have long been at the heart of Iran’s forestry. It was only with the second Five-Year Development Plan (1994-1998) that all due consideration was given to the forests outside the Caspian region and that the socio-economic reality surrounding them was taken into consideration by attempting to introduce integrated participatory approaches to forest rehabilitation and management. With reference to 1999, the total forest area under management amounted to 3,905,440 ha, equivalent to 31.5 % of the total forest estate. The main forest types outside the Caspian are gradually brought under two major forms of management, i.e. conservation (569,000 ha) and multipurpose (1,440,440 ha). The areas managed there, are in decreasing order: 867,400 ha, 807,500 ha, 223,800 ha and 101,740 ha respectively for the Irano-Touranian, the Zagros, the Khalij-Omanian and the Arasbaran forests.

Forest area extension: Forest plantations are established to compensate for the loss of natural forests and to extend the area of the global national forest estate. The total planted area up to 1999 has been estimated at 2,221,100 ha. The long-term afforestation programme aims at implementing 4,000,000 ha for plantations, with 1,900,000 ha for forest development, 730,000 ha for green spaces’ development, 370,000 ha for wood production and 1,000,000 ha for multipurpose tree planting.

Range management and extension procedures, objectives and achievements

Range management rehabilitation and extension: Prior to 1995, there were no range management activities implemented even though diverse management approaches and plans had been formulated. Since then, FRO has formulated 6,893 range management plans covering 16.4 million ha, of which 3,838 plans are being implemented over 8.8 million ha. The technicians elaborate the plans, which are the basis for the establishment of thirty-year legally binding contracts with the grazing license holders. Following their management, production of rangelands has increased by factors ranging from 1.4 for the best rangelands to 3.0 for poor rangelands. Activities leading to range rehabilitation have consisted of the following:

• Range inventory and land tenure assessment (56,400,000 ha);
• Planting fodder species (1,875,000 ha);
• Re-conversion of abandoned rain-fed agricultural fields to rangeland (1,119,000 ha); and
• Establishment of enclosures for rangeland protection over 6,128,000 ha.

Combating desertification: FRO’s achievements are as follows:

• Regeneration by direct seeding over 3,300,000 ha;
• Dune fixation using petroleum mulch spray over 130,000 ha; and
• Windbreak establishment over 2,000 km.

Rehabilitation is achieved with such success: native vegetation recovers so well that some areas are re-designated for controlled grazing and cautious fuelwood gathering.

Promoting participation: Participatory approaches to planning and management have become the foundation to sustainable integrated natural resources management policy in Iran. Participatory management plans are prepared by the administration for forests traditionally utilized by local families who implement them on a contractual basis. They aim to:

• Encourage forage cultivation inside the forest, in exchange for livestock removal from the forest to enhance natural regeneration;
• Enrich forests by seeding and planting¹³ operations; and
• Distribute land outside forests with 30 years land tenure rights.

The beneficiaries organized into forest cooperatives execute the diverse management prescribed operations as a voluntary contribution. Participation is however still understood as a counterpart effort from the “beneficiaries” to manage their resources as formulated by Local Forest Offices, according to a top-down approach.

INSTITUTIONAL, LEGAL, POLICY AND PLANNING FRAMEWORKS

The Forest and Range Organization

The Forest and Range Organization (FRO) is the main governmental institution responsible for planning and implementing desertification control, forestry and range management, and development programmes. It manages all public lands covered by the Forest and Range Nationalization Law and enforces policies, legislation and regulations pertaining to land use, forestry, conservation, range management and desertification control. Projects and plans are prepared by the central bureaus and referred to the 30 FRO provincial institutions for implementation.

Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands

The Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands (RIFR) was founded in 1968 as a national institute with mandatory responsibilities to lead research activities on natural resources of Iran. Its former strategy was founded on afforestation, using exotic and fast-growing species. It is now more focused on forest ecology and genetics, silviculture and afforestation by native and exotic species. Independent from the RIFR, the Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Centre carries out research activities related to:

• Soil erosion;
• Integrated watershed management;
• River-training; and
• Floodwater harnessing and utilization.

Forest and range training and education institutions

Currently, more than 30 faculties and universities with over 10,000 students are actively teaching agriculture, animal husbandry, desertification control and dry-land rehabilitation. Forestry education dates back to almost 60 years. At present six Natural Resources Faculties provide training to 436 students (1995 est.); 75 candidates train for a post-diploma, 369 students for a BSc. degree, 65 candidates for an MSc. degree and four applicants for a PhD degree. Two modern Natural Resources Training Complexes with a combined capacity of 230 candidates, teach high school graduates to become forestry or rangeland management technicians.

Policy and strategy framework for forest and range

The forest policy aims at conserving, rehabilitating and sustaining the use and development of natural resources. It also aims to:

• Balance the livestock population in harmony with the rangelands’ actual carrying capacity;
• Settle livestock owners and nomads; and
• Settle land ownership demarcation at national level.

Six principles guide the forest and rangeland development policy. They include: integrated approach to planning and development, participatory approaches to resource management, promoting institutional reform and capacity building to strengthen programme implementation and ensuring continuous monitoring and evaluation of forestry policies.

Forest, range and environmental protection strategies

Forests and range: The government is pursuing a strategy of multiple forest utilization and is launching a vigorous national reforestation and afforestation programme to reclaim degraded forests and rangelands, protect watersheds and manage industrial forests on a sustained-yield basis. It also aims to involve private enterprises to obtain long-term concessions for large forest areas, with the objective of industrial utilization and sustained yield management. In the tree plantation programme, the objective is to move towards more people participation and involvement as several programmes are carried out on sub-contract basis with private enterprises.

Environmental protection: The national environmental protection strategy’s goal is to put 10% of the national land area under protection. At present, 8.2 million ha are being protected by the Department of Environment, which manages the following categories of protected areas:

• National parks (11 sites – 1.3 million ha);
• Wildlife refuges (25 sites – 1.9 million ha);
• Protected areas (47 sites – 5.3 million ha);
• National nature monuments (5 sites); and
• Biosphere reserves (9 sites – 1.9 million ha).

In addition, the FRO manages 131 reserves with a total area of 111,000 ha.

Legislative framework for environmental protection

Forestry and environmental legislation: The first legislation of forestry was enacted in 1924; it was strongly oriented towards the regulation and control of forest exploitation and management. The recent amendments to the law allow for better land tenure arrangements in forest and range protection, rehabilitation and management (Article 45). The law is being presently reviewed to make possible more community commitment through participation. As other environmental laws, the LPEFR is weakly enforced. Other laws related to environment are: The Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act; and the Game and Fish Law and Regulations.

International cooperation and adhesion to international conventions: Iran has taken several measures to enhance international cooperation with relation to environmental affairs and has accepted international legal responsibilities by adhering to a number the international conventions such as the United Nations Desertification Control Convention, the Convention on Biodiversity, the Convention on Wetlands, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the World Heritage Convention.

Forestry and range development Country Vision 2020

Forests: The forestry development vision programme up to the 2020 horizon consists of: Forest rehabilitation and enrichment (management of 1,650,000 ha of degraded forests), Forest extension (4,000,000 ha of forest plantations, including irrigated plantations, urban and peri-urban forestry, agroforestry, sylvopastoral plantations).

Range: With regard to range, the long-term development vision includes:

• Grazing management prescriptions over 23 million ha of summer rangelands;
• Executing watershed management and range improvement activities on 2 million ha of rangelands;
• Converting low yielding cereal dry-land to intensive fodder and forage production fields over 1 million ha;
• Balancing livestock numbers to rangeland carrying capacity;
• Increasing forage production and supply; and
• Promoting extension and participation in range rehabilitation and management; and promoting research on range management improvement.

CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF DEFORESTATION AND DEGRADATION

Indirect (root) causes

Some of the salient indirect causes to deforestation and rangeland degradation are:

Land and water tenure and users' rights and incentives: These include:

• Incentives granted to enhance agricultural production, which have constituted an encouragement to extend the areas cultivated by converting, with the State’s consent significant forest and rangelands to agriculture land;
• Indirect incentives granted for forest and rangeland exploitation, through omitting to tax products and incomes derived from such operations;
• Promoting excessive water mobilization as an encouragement to the extension of productive irrigated agriculture, mostly implemented through forest and rangeland clearing; and
• Land nationalization, which is held responsible for the breakdown of traditional systems of forest and range management, resulting in the disintegration of the forest and range resources.

Poverty triggering factors: These include:

• Unchecked population growth which inevitably results in extreme pressure being exerted on the limited natural resource base available to the country;
• Poverty, which concerns 40 % of the rural population that attempt to maintain basic living standards by increasing livestock numbers on the already overcrowded rangelands; and
• Lack of investments and on off-farm job and revenue opportunities that compel more people to depend increasingly on marginal lands, at the expense of former forest and rangelands for their crop production.

Response capacity to forest and range misuse issues: The response capacity is weak because:

• Inability to react on a timely basis to misuse and calamity impacts, for lack of timely and reliable data and information;
• Top-down approach adopted to trigger community involvement in the process of natural resources rehabilitation has not set in motion the required sense of ownership of, and responsibility for, the resource that may lead to sustainable success; and
• Some gaps in knowledge related to natural resources, participatory procedures.

Policy, legislative and regulatory issues: Among those issues indirectly responsible for degradation, the following:

• Legal/regulatory tools did not incorporate the human dimension and consequently failed to promote the protection and sustainable management of the land resources;
• The form of conservatism that prevails within the forestry and range sector makes it impossible to delegate fully the responsibility to its traditional users to administer, manage and sustain the resource; and
• Despite commendable efforts, the government’s commitment to sustainable natural resources management remains insufficient.

Direct causes: The main direct causes to deforestation and range degradation are:

Natural causes: Direct natural causes to degradation include:

• climatic conditions, which limit vegetation’s establishment and resilience and constitute hostile conditions for rehabilitation;
• accentuated topography, which triggers acute erosion processes; properties of soil which often hamper the emergence and survival of natural regeneration;
• natural destructive calamities, such as floods, wind, temperature and drought extremes; and
• pests and diseases.

Causes linked to human activity: Land degradation and loss of vegetative cover are closely associated with human activities such as:

• Allocation of forest, woodland and rangeland for the purpose of agricultural and urban development;
• Misuse of forest resources through excessive fuelwood, construction, wood gathering, grazing and browsing;
• Misuse of rangeland resources resulting from increased livestock numbers, well beyond carrying capacity;
• Inadequate agricultural practices, particularly abusive utilization of unsuitable farm machinery for subsistence shifting cultivation combined with “free grazing” on marginal steep sloped lands;
• Agricultural land abandonment;
• Infrastructure construction; and
• Man-made catastrophes such as fires, wars, refugee influxes.

Effects and extent of deforestation degradation

The effects of deforestation and degradation are manifested in:

Loss of land productivity: Deforestation and degradation result in loss of land productivity, which is translated by decline in biomass¹⁴, in species diversity and in genetic resource; decline in habitat caused by loss of vegetative cover, erosion, salinization, waterlogging, lowering of water tables ; and soil erosion increase.

Increase in poverty: Natural resources degradation results in poverty expansion. Besides the traditional “underclass” often identified among forest and rangeland dwellers, the new population groups affected by poverty are the rural-to-urban migrants, the landless and near landless, the disabled, and the rural female group. The collapse of various production systems, which are not economically viable anymore, forces more rural population to migrate to cities. Regarding the extent of deforestation, clearing forest for agriculture, forage production and firewood and charcoal has reduced forests by 30 % over the last 40 years¹⁵. According to the Technical Office of Rangelands, the country’s range area has decreased from an estimated 100 million ha in 1972 to 90 million ha at present.

STATUS OF KNOWLEDGE

Lessons learned

Several lessons learned have been brought to the surface; they are related to the following:

Development choices and issues

• Planted forests are for the most planned and implemented without insight into the future and in isolation of their socio-economic context;
• Any form of rural development must consider making the best use of the existing traditional knowledge and know-how;
• In Iran, there is no particular silviculture developed for either natural or artificial stands outside the Caspian forest zone;
• A need to improve the existing environmental information systems and to establish a common network for better planning and sustainable development of natural resources; and
• An important network of urban and peri-urban forests has been established often at very high costs, with long-term dependency on irrigation.

Institutional and legislative aspects: Valuable observations have been made, among which the following are among those that call for immediate attention:

• Programme planning and decision-making functions are highly centralized and leave little initiative to the provincial Natural Resources General Directorates;
• Laws and regulations pertaining to natural resources protection and development are totally inadequate when it comes to promoting decentralized planning and decision-making or supporting community participatory to natural resources development;
• International contact and exchange opportunities for FRO technical staff and officers are too limited;
• Inter and intra-sectoral coordination of the development activities initiated by FRO need to be initiated.

Gaps in knowledge

Some gaps in knowledge have been identified including:

• Lack of reliable data on the extent of deforestation and natural resources degradation;
• Consequences of the cumulative effects of decades of misuse of forests and rangelands in terms of social, economic and environmental damage incurred;
• Difficulty for Iran’s research¹⁶ system in capturing traditional farmers’ experience and reacting to unsustainable land use practices of small farmers particularly emanating from forests and rangeland dwellers;
• Inability to initiate full participation partnership in development of rural communities; and
• Lack of common networks of statistical monitoring and planning databases; public awareness of environmental degradation and its implications is fragmentary and simplistic and is not founded on comprehensive information on ecosystems and land use methods.

Experience gained, capability developed and shortcomings

Iranian forestry achievements to protect, rehabilitate and manage forest and range resources are significant, but the challenges ahead are colossal because the forest and range development policy objectives aim not only at conserving the resources, but also at alleviating poverty. With this in mind, new concepts and methods are being tested, including the participatory approach to integrated forest and range management. Besides this, it is correct to state that forestry still faces shortcomings in training and land allocation.

Training, where the qualifications’ pyramid is totally inverted since the number of academic level graduates exceeds by far that of technicians.

Land nationalization has constituted a powerful factor of misuse of the natural resources. It appears indeed, through various reports and studies undertaken in connection with natural resources degradation, that land nationalization has constituted a powerful factor of misuse of the natural resources. Traditional land users being deprived of their traditional land tenure security and former rights, tend to use the natural land resources as common resources, on the basis of “first come first served” leading to overexploitation and eventually serious degradation. With an improved land tenure security provided through participatory management schemes, the situation is gradually improving.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusions

The conclusions of the mission are summarized as follows:

Development choices

• Iranian foresters have gained much valuable experience in such fields as sand dune fixation, mangrove regeneration, poplar and other fast-growing species plantation, management of NWFPs, development of extensive urban and peri-urban forests, development of intermediary forms of participation to forest and range sustainable management ;
• Despite imposing resource rehabilitation programmes, FRO has not significantly and sustainably contributed to poverty alleviation among forest and rangeland dwellers;
• The ambitious Vision 2020 of the forestry sector demonstrates the will of the government to pursue its efforts towards improving and rehabilitating the country’s forests and rangelands; and
• Following nationalization of all lands, rapid population growth as well as unsustainable human activities and other natural causes, Iranian forests and rangelands have lost very substantial areas in the last decades.

Institutional and legal

• Planning and decision-making are highly centralized, leaving little space for provincial and local initiatives to programme and project formulation, planning and decision-making;
• Need to re-assess the country’s training needs for participatory forest and range protection, rehabilitation, management and development;
• Research needs to focus on integrated participatory agroforestry, community forestry and smallholder forestry and should be better prepared for the dissemination of its results;
• Legislation is not adequate as it does not spell out with force the need for effective protection and for decentralized and participatory programme development and decision-making;
• The Islamic Republic of Iran has engaged in important regional cooperation programmes;
• Inter- and intra-sectoral coordination are inadequate; and
• Coordination within the FRO institutions and with other stakeholder bodies and organizations is weak.

Natural resources use and management

• Socio-economic value of forests and rangelands is very significant as more than 5 million people live in forests or in their vicinity, while 450,000 persons live permanently on the rangelands; and
• Planted forests are established without any preconceived idea of their future sustainable management.

TOFs are not yet well perceived in terms of their actual or potential contribution to the national economy and to the well being of people.

General conclusion: The current situation of Iran’s natural resources is a reflection of its past and present social, ecological, technological, economic, political and administrative measures. Technical or engineering solutions are not enough; they need to take into account the needs, priorities and aspirations of the rural poor.

Recommendations

Development choices: Recommendations with regard to development choices and issues include:

• Biodiversity conservation: Adopt participatory planning and resource management approaches to sustainable forest resources management, with due regard for biodiversity conservation;
• Assessing and monitoring ecosystems: Complete the assessment and monitoring system by providing funds, staff and equipment to implement the project UTF/IRA/024/IRA formulated in May 1999;
• Popular participation: Participatory planning and management become a standard approach to understand the needs and aspirations of communities and individual families to contribute in those matters that directly impact upon their sustainable livelihoods;
• Tenure rights: Develop a people-oriented policy, planning and technical support system in contrast with traditional planning, management and production systems;
• Poverty alleviation and support to local communities: Enhance and promote long-term employment and revenue opportunities among forest and rangeland dwellers by strengthening stakeholders’ interest and investments in sustainable resources management; and
• Development and widespread distribution of alternative domestic energy: Provide alternative domestic energy sources to cover the entire rural countryside.

Institutional and legal: Recommendations with respect to institutional and legal improvements include:

• Need for decentralization: Ensure genuine community commitment as expressed by the recently formulated forest policies and strategies, more decentralization at planning and decision-making;
• Need for a better adapted legislation: Review legislation and regulations to incorporate the human dimension and recognize the right of traditional land users to access and share management over resources;
• Cross-sectoral coordination and co-operation: Establish national and provincial cross-sectoral coordination and co-operation mechanisms involving all institutions and organizations concerned with rural development in general and natural resources rehabilitation, conservation and development in particular;
• Regional cooperation between LFCCs: Initiate cooperation programmes between Iran and other LFCCs including follow up by the Secretariat of the LFCCs to ensure that various cooperation proposals as detailed in the main report materialize; and
• Training and research: Adjust and normalize the balance of qualifications between professional graduates and technicians trained; diversify the training curricula and research topics to include tropical semi-arid, and arid environment protection and forest and range rehabilitation, management and development; and use the national training capability to help the neighbouring LFCCs.

Resource use and management: Recommendations with respect to resource management include:

• Improved agricultural production systems: Promote more environmentally and people friendly approaches to agricultural development and expansion, by adopting efficient and non-destructive production systems, particularly in mountain areas, and rehabilitating lands that have been exhausted of their productive potential, to their initial land-use choice; and
• Land productivity improvement: Improve land productivity and soil fertility in rehabilitation of degraded lands, including incorporating trees and planted forests in the landscape.

Enhancing the role of planted forests: The recommendations with respect to enhancing the role of planted forests in sustainable forest management include:

• Integrated planted forests in a broader land-use context in an attempt to respond to the priority needs and aspirations of people;
• Maintain or increase the present rate of afforestation/reforestation; and
• FRO and RIFR prepare arid, semi-arid and tropical silvicultural and management models as well as guidelines for the rehabilitation, silvicultural treatment, management and development of mangroves, fodder tree plantations, and Haloxylon persicum stands developed through plantations and seeding.

Enhancing the role of trees outside forests: The recommendations with respect to trees outside forests include:

• Recognize TOFs as a valuable resource and introduce their concept and issues as points of discussion for the coming LFCC workshops;
• Grant more support to farmers to maintain and expand poplar and fast growing species’ plantings for shade, shelter and other uses;
• Promote TOFs in private holdings, particularly in agroforestry where trees support agriculture and livelihoods;
• Develop an adapted silviculture for the specific needs of urban/peri-urban forests and publish silvicultural guidelines for various species in different ecological contexts;
• Consider the productive capacity of the urban and peri-urban forests and prepare management plans accordingly;
• Promote the planting of trees outside forests, mainly fodder trees in sylvo-pastoral systems; and
• Arrange a short training course on the silvicultural treatments of fodder tree and shrub species and on sylvo-pastoral management of recently rehabilitated wooded rangelands.

⁴ Forest Resources Assessment.

⁵ Expert in religious jurisprudence.

⁶ The main mountain ranges include the Alborz in the north, and the Zagros extending from northwest to southwest.

⁷ Dasht-e-Kavir and the Dasht-e-Lut.

⁸ There are 37 major river watersheds.

⁹ Six years and above.

¹⁰ Ten years of age and above.

¹¹ Land clearing for this type of production system is under control and does not constitute a threat to forests and rangelands.

¹² The Hyrcanian broadleaved forests receive mean annual precipitations ranging from 1,000–1,500 mm and extend from sea level to 2,500 m altitude.

¹³ Multipurpose native species.

¹⁴ Total annual biomass production expressed in usable dry matter yield is estimated to have decreased from 13.98 million tons in 1972, to 10.7 million tons nowadays.

¹⁵ Source: National CBD Report for the Islamic Republic of Iran.

¹⁶ Iran’s research system is oriented towards raising production of the better-off farmers.