Iran's Leader issues directive on general environmental policy

TEHRAN, Nov. 18 (MNA) – Leader of the Islamic Republic has issued a directive where he has given general policies on environment. The directive prepared in 15 articles emphasized upon establishment of an Integrated National Environmental System, country’s National Atlas of Ecosystem, and addressing environmental threat. Leader’s website report went online on Tuesday; the heads of all government branches received also a copy of the directive as provisioned in Article 110 of the Constitution. The first point emphasized upon ‘coordinated, systematic, and comprehensive management of all life sources according to principles of sustainability of ecosystem and improving capacities and legal and structural capabilities in line with an approach to encourage public participation.’ The second point highlighted the necessity of an Integrated National Environmental System; the third point lends importance on ‘improving the environmental conditions to endow society at large with a healthy environment, to observe justice to the posterity; the fourth point is preventive in nature; “prevention of spread of pollutions and enforcing criminal laws on any activity destructive to the environment, and other activities polluting the nature, and enforcing the relevant fines as punishment.” The fifth point emphasized upon regular and daily surveillance of sources of pollution of air, water, soil, noise pollution, waves and harmful irradiations (for example, the parasites the IRGC uses to jam BBC, CNN, and other satellite TV broadcastings); enforcing compliance with environmental standards, and planning in land use. In the six point, Leader’s directive addressed wider issue of preparing country’s national atlas of ecosystem; preserving, reviving, optimizing, and developing renewable natural resources (sea, lakes, rivers, dams, wetlands, underground water, forest, soil, range, and wildlife biodiversity); forcing legal limits on using these resources so as to keep the depletion pace under the ecological capacity which is a product of sustainability; management of sensitive ecosystems (national parks and national natural phenomena); protecting genetic sources and promoting them to international standards. The seventh point emphasized upon accurate management of climate change and threats of desertification, airborne particles, drought, and other microbial and radioactive factors; boosting ex-ante planning; and evaluation of emergent environmental phenomena. The eighth point in the Leader’s directive touched upon development of ‘green economy’ (which is a new idea in Iranian context); ‘low-carbon producing industry, clean energy development, organic agricultural products, industrial waste management through the social, economic, natural and environmental capacities in place,’ were emphasized in the directive. “Reforming production processes and optimized water, resources, food, material and energy use, especially environmental-friendly fuels are areas of concern,” said the directive, along with development of green public transportation, especially in urban overpopulated centers as other contributing factors. The ninth point related a balanced use of water resources and preserving underground water reservoirs through a series of management practices in watershed management and control of inflow of pollutants to fresh water, followed with establishment of a precise auditing system in environment with budgets financed through national credit funds in its tenth point. "Encouraging investment in environmentally-friendly technologies through taxing schemes applied on industries producing pollutants; drafting an environmental ethics charter and upholding of a public morality which respect Iranian-Islamic values and style; relying upon innovative industries and indigenous solutions in preserving balance of ecosystem; improving the public awareness and insight into the environment, and improving religious teachings on participation and social accountability especially in public call on preserving the nature among all social classes," constituted other points of the directive. The last but not the least point addressed the establishment of regional bodies to effectively deal with water pollution and airborne particles, improved bilateral, multilateral, regional, and international participation and cooperation on environment; effective use of international opportunities and incentives in moving toward a carbon-free economy and facilitating transfer of technology and other innovations relevant to environment were concluding points of the directive. http://en.mehrnews.com/news/112046/Leader-issues-directive-on-general-environmental-policy