Fires in 2016 Damaged 5,800 Hectares of National Lands

The commander of the protection unit for pastures and forests reported that fires occurred in 5,800 hectares of Iran's "national lands" in 2016, including fires in 800 hectares of forest land and 2,900 hectares of pastures. According to ILNA news agency, Qasem Sabzali stated on Sunday, July 25, that since the beginning of the year, 740 cases of fire have been reported in 5,800 hectares of "national lands." He mentioned that during this period, there were 136 cases of fire covering 800 hectares of forest land and 456 cases of fire in 2,900 hectares of pastures. He also noted that the number of fires has decreased by 10% compared to the previous year, and the area affected by fires has decreased by 17%. Sabzali previously stated that last year, 18,000 hectares of land in Iran were affected by fires, with less than 30% of that in forests and pastures. However, Khodakaram Jalali, head of the Forests Organization, provided different statistics, stating that last year more than 44,000 hectares of Iran's forests burned, which was unprecedented in the past 12 years. In recent months, many forests in Iran have caught fire, including a fire in the heights of "Pasargad" in Fars province in late June, which resulted in the destruction of at least 3,000 hectares of vegetation, including several trees aged "200 to 500 years." In late July, a fire in 62 hectares of Karkheh National Park in Khuzestan province burned three thousand trees, one thousand five hundred saplings of "Ghaz and Paddeh" species, and a thousand bushes. The lack of water-dropping planes and helicopters has been cited as one of the reasons for the slow response in extinguishing fires in Iran's forests. Meanwhile, officials from the Environmental Organization and the Forests Organization of Iran have stated that 95% of the fires in forests and pastures are caused by human factors.