Iran's Environment at Risk; Ebrahim Raisi's Government Removes 'Environmental Impact Assessment of Projects' from the Seventh Development Plan

Domestic news agencies reported the removal of 'Environmental Impact Assessment of Projects' from the Seventh Development Plan, issued by the thirteenth government, referring to this action as an 'environmental disaster.' Tasnim News Agency warned that 'currently, there is no law in Iran, approved by the parliament, that obliges industries to conduct environmental assessments.' It stated: 'If this issue is not included in the Seventh Development Plan, and project assessments are not conducted, it will lead to a major disaster for the country's environment.' According to this news agency, 'the reasoning of one of the key organizations in the final drafting of the Seventh Development Plan for removing the environment from the program was that since the environment has no place in the general policies of the program, it should not be included in the development plan either.' The draft of the Seventh Development Plan was prepared before Nowruz 1402 and was supposed to be issued, but due to objections from various agencies, its submission was halted, leading to revisions, and ultimately the bill was published in late Ordibehesht. Tasnim reported that in the priority topics of the development program, there was a section titled 'Environment and Pollution of Metropolises,' which had 2 or 3 articles, but in the bill that was finally published, the topic of the environment was completely removed from the Seventh Plan. The Seventh Development Plan outlines 'the roadmap for the country's development until 1406.' IRNA reported in Azar 1401 that despite over 60 years of development planning in the country and 15 years since the issuance of the 20-Year Vision Document, the achievements of planning have been less than expected at the time of preparing and approving the programs. This state news agency added: 'The evaluation of the trends of important economic variables and the prevailing outlook in the 1390s is not only assessed as unfavorable compared to the mid-1380s when the 20-Year Vision Document was issued, but also indicates the country's weak performance compared to other countries in the Vision Document area.'