The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has conducted a two-day inception workshop (11-12th of November) to coordinate arrangements with national and international experts to launch the implementation of an FAO Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) project aimed at addressing the decline in forests in the Zagros and Caspian regions of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The workshop was opened by Dr. Naser Moghaddasi, Acting Head of the Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization (FRWO) at the Ministry of Jihad-e-Agriculture and by Mr. Serge Nakouzi, FAO Representative to Iran. Dr. AbdelHamied Adam Hamid, Senior Forestry Officer with the FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa, highlighted the significance of the project in establishing a robust programme to deal effectively with the outbreaks of the Oak Dieback and Boxwood Blight diseases that have contributed to the depletion of the forests in the two regions as well as promoting the sustainable management of forests in the country.

Referring to the recent adoption of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the UN General Assembly in New York, Dr. Nakouzi underscored that the sustainable management of forests is central to the achievement of a number of SDGs, including notably those related to ending poverty, promoting sustainable agriculture and combating climate change. Furthermore, reiterating the vision adopted by the recently concluded XIV World Forestry Congress for forests and forestry for 2050 and beyond, the FAO Representative noted that forests will be a fundamental part in the improvement of livelihoods and human well-being in the future.

According to a press release by the FAO Representation in Iran, the TCP project entitled "Assistance to Strengthening the Resilience of Zagros Forests to Oak Decline and Caspian Forests to Boxwood Blight and Development of National Forest Monitoring System in the Islamic Republic of Iran" will be implemented over the upcoming 18 months (2016-17).

The project will focus primarily on establishing a proactive national forest monitoring system in order to sustainably manage the Zagros and Caspian forest ecosystems and to contain the outbreaks of the Oak dieback and Boxwood blight.

In an interview conducted with Dr. Abdelhamied, the FAO Forestry expert specified that there were neither simple nor quick solutions to tackle these issues. He advised on the other hand that collaboration with relevant institutions and the Iranian public, particularly those residing in the affected areas, would be of great advance in achieving "timely delivery of the project activities and outputs". Dr. Nakouzi highlighted in this respect that new inter-sectoral partnerships as well as strong engagement with the local communities are essential to the process.

Oak dieback was reported in Zagros for the first time in 2009, subsequently escalating across the natural oak forests to cover an area of about 1.4 million hectares. In 2012, Boxwood Blight (or Buxus dieback) was detected in the Caspian forests and, since then, it has substantially spread across the North-West and North-East of Iran.

According to reports published by FRWO, the infection will leave most of the areas with zero rate of regeneration. A team of specialists fielded by FAO are to recognise the primary causes of the dieback and prescribe remedial treatment accordingly.