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Wildlife conservation inIranEsmail Kahrom aa Environmental studies at both the Universityof Tehran and the Azad University in TehranPublished online: 18 Jun 2010.

To cite this article: Esmail Kahrom (2000) Wildlife conservation in Iran, AsianAffairs, 31:1, 49-56, DOI: 10.1080/714041404

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/714041404

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WILDLIFE CONSERVATION IN IRANESMAIL KAHROM

Dr Esmail Kahrom is a former director of the Iranian Bureau of Wildlife. Henow lectures in environmental studies at both the University of Tehran andthe Azad University in Tehran and is also a writer and broadcaster. DrKahrom spoke to the Society on 21 July 1999. The following article is basedon his lecture.

Fig. 1. Taqe Bostan: relief showing the hunting ground. All the animal species may beidentified. The stag with broad antlers is the Persian fallow deer, Dama mesopotamica

Six thousand pheasants, 150 deer, 63 buffaloes, 35 tigers and 18 leopardswere the results of one day's hunting in Miankaleh (now a protected areain Mazandaran). Masood Mirza (Zellolsoltan), a son of Nasereldin-Shah,hunted down all these with a group of his friends. The size of the 'bag'was carefully recorded by Doost Ali Khan-e-Moayerol-Mamalek, whokept a detailed diary of the hunts carried out by the members of the royalfamily during Nasereldin-Shah's reign. The zest for hunting was greatamong the Qajar aristocracy. One prince is said to have declared: "Horse,rifle and shekar [game animals] are my greatest friends"

The methods employed by the hunters of the time were ingenious andperhaps unique, in the sense that a large number of people were requiredto carry out a thorough hunt. Kuhmaly was one of the most popularmethods, requiring a large number of people. Starting in a line formation,they herded the animals to a suitable place such as a narrow path or a

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deep valley where the main hunter was expecting the game. This method israther similar to having pheasants driven by beaters in a shoot in Britain. Itis believed that up to 80-90 per cent of the animals in a given area mighthave been wiped out by this procedure. In another ingenious method,the animal, usually a bear, leopard, tiger or hyena, was driven skilfullyto a cave, where the hunter was at the entrance awaiting the animal. Asmall explosive was then thrown into the cave which scared the animalout to be shot by the hunting group. This method was called khabanidan,or 'putting to sleep'.

Hunting was then a very big and lucrative business and one not exclus-ive to the nobles and aristocrats. Guns had been introduced to Iran duringthe Safavids, almost 200 years before the Qajars. However, modernlong-range rifles were introduced under the Qajars. In his memoirs,Zellolsoltan (Shadow of the King) writes:

To the west of Shiraz is a mountain called Dian. There are some400,000 armed men who are busily hunting day and night. Themountain is so rich in wildlife that if the numbers of hunters wereten times over, there would still be enough game animals for everybody.We stayed here for two months and when we were leaving, the numberof animals was still the same.

Statements like these prove that the Qajars never set out to eradicatespecies of wild animals. They in fact wished they could hunt foreverand far into the future. However, their perception of and insight intothe natural world were far from what we would call realistic or scientific.They considered natural resources such as wildlife and forests as renewableresources that simply could not be exterminated by man. "They have beenthere and will always be there." Probably they never thought of the word'engheraz', meaning 'extinction'.

Although one might go on talking about the devastating effects ofuncontrolled hunting during the Qajar era, the fact is that for the wildlifeof Iran at least it was not all gloom. Somehow some positive actionwas also taken by the zealous hunters which preserved some habitatsand their wildlife.Vast areas in the countryside where wildlife was presentin abundance were chosen and protected by influential hunters. Theseprotected areas (ghoroghs) were then visited every two or three years bythe hunters and hence the wild animals had the chance to build up theirnumbers during resting periods. Some of these ghoroghs may be tracedback 300 years and may be classed as the oldest in the world. Khojin,Sorkhe Hesar, Lar, Ghameshloo were but a few of the hunting groundsprotected for the nobles of the Qajar era. All these areas, because ofthe quality and quantity of natural resources, are still protected.

The Constitutional Revolution in 1907 stopped the killings for a while.As early as under Mohammed Ali Shah, licensing began in Tehran. Thiswas only for guns and had nothing to do with animals or hunting. Thesecurity of Tehran required that gun owners be recognised and licensed.

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After the fall of the Qajars, almost all guns were collected in, and thishelped the fragile population of wildlife to a great extent.

It did not take long before the landowners of the Qajar era, the aristo-crats of that time, and wealthy and influential people along with theirservants, soldiers and supporters, found themselves in the countrysidewhere they owned lands and water courses. These groups of armedmen had tasted the good life and in particular hunting. Known as "localhunters", they proved to be unscrupulous in the Iranian wilderness. Theywere accomplished climbers and survivors in the harsh environment, knewwhere to look for the animals and how to harvest the largest numbers. Thedamage they inflicted on Iranian wildlife is still obvious. All the speciesin which they were interested are now rare, threatened or extinct. Examplesof some of the species they targeted include the mighty lion, Caspian tiger,onager, gazelle, mountain sheep, leopard and cheetah. The advent of cars,especially of the jeep and later the landrover, exacerbated the situationand more remote areas became accessible to the hunters.

Animals and the law

In 1920, for the first time, the word "hunting" was mentioned in Iranianlegislation. The law stated that "people may be allowed to hunt the harmfulanimals on their farms"-no great encouragement for environmentalists. Ittook some 36 years to develop proper legislation covering some aspects ofhunting. Legal hunting regulations were enacted in 1956 and in 1967the Department of Hunting and Control of Fisheries was founded underthe supervision of the Ministry of Natural Resources. At last, in 1971,the Department of Environmental Conservation was established. ThisDepartment dealt with two aspects of the environment, the human andthe natural. In 1973 I joined the Department of the Environment (DOE).The DOE made it possible for me to travel and work everywhere in Iran,allowing me to gain an idea of the greatness of the country. The DOEis now facing great challenges in the field of both the human and the naturalenvironment. In the field of the human environment, the universal prob-lems of pollution, ozone depletion, greenhouse effects, populationexplosion and so on have been targeted. In the area of the natural environ-ment the emphasis is changing from the conservation of species to theconservation of habitats.

Although Iran is situated in a dry part of the world and has two of theworld's driest deserts, it also has a large number of wetlands, some of whichare listed as wetlands of international importance by the Ramsar Con-vention. In accordance with the guidelines set out by the Conventionand the International Union for Conservation of Nature and NaturalResources (IUCN), Iran's wetlands are classified as of local, regionaland international importance. There are 18 wetlands of internationalimportance. These receive more attention, and more research is conductedto assess their changes over time. The DOE is a well-established depart-

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ment and has contacts with international bodies. We receive expertise andfunds for executing projects in Iran. Management programmes are carriedout in order to protect fauna and flora and their habitats. The DOE hasestablished areas throughout the country, enjoying legal protection at fourdifferent levels.

* National Parks: These are vast areas containing resources such asforests, pastures, bodies of water and mountains which representoutstanding areas of natural beauty. No human activities are allowed.Golestan National Park in the north of Iran is a good example.

* Protected Areas: Reasonable exploitation is allowed in these large areaswhich contain natural resources. The animal population and vegetationstructure remain sustainable.

* Wildlife Refuges: These are areas having specific habitats and climaticproperties, suitable for certain species or groups of wild animals.Examples include Miankaleh Wildlife Refuge.

* National Nature Reserves: These contain outstanding and rare naturalphenomena such as ancient trees, historical features and natural featuresneeding a large protected area around them; for example the DehloranNational Nature Reserve containing tar springs.

Fig. 2. Map of Iran, showing the areas protected by the Department of the Environment

Sadly, all these areas only cover some 4.8 per cent of the total territoryof the country. Compared with other countries, particularly in Europe, thisis a very small percentage. We believe that more and more areas need to beprotected in Iran. It must be pointed out, furthermore, with much regret,

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that even within the protected areas the complete enforcement of lawsseems difficult if not impossible. The reasons vary from place to placebut generally pressures of 'development' exist. Farming, road-building,housing estates, industrial development along with poaching are the mainculprits.

Plans for the future

Iranians in the countryside are a nation of hunters. People who live in oraround the hunting grounds have always depended seriously on huntingand fishing. In these areas the surname 'Sayyad', meaning hunter orfisherman, is the most common name. To strike a balance between theconservation of habitats and wildlife and what is called 'development', morework has to be done. We think that any approach to the problems should becarried out in three phases of short, medium and long-term plans.

Short-term plans include enforcement of the law and heavy penalties.Such policies prevent the loss of species already under pressure. The mediahave demonstrated an encouraging response to our call for help and wel-come presenting information to the public. Whilst medium-term plansput the emphasis on a rearrangement of the protected areas and concen-trate on the zoning of these valuable areas for a better control of access,the aim of the long-term projects is to enlighten people at all levelsand walks of life. The word education is the key to all the problems relatedto environmental issues. A huge campaign has already started in thecountry to tell the people the facts about our natural heritage. We thinkthat people will protect the valuable things in life. It is a mammoth taskto put the value of wildlife in perspective, but the education campaignis well and truly under way in Iran.

The challenge ahead for the DOE is to fulfil its commitments towardsinternational organisations in modern concepts such as global warming,ozone depletion, sustainable development, etc. Although these conceptsare new, the philosophy behind them is not new to the traditional societiesand communities in Iran. In the more remote communities, e.g. the tribesand villages, generations of people have been the great savers of thecountryside, soil, water, forests and the whole environment. They aremasters of recycling and true believers in the sustainable harvest of naturalresources. What seem to be new concepts in environmental conservationhave deep roots in popular culture.

When Colonel Goldsmith visited Iran, he asked his host Lotfi AliKhan-e-zand to show him onagers to shoot. Ali Khan took him to thewater hole and they waited until dawn for the onager. When they appeared,the Colonel was only allowed to shoot a single male and Ali Khan did notlet him shoot the pregnant females or females accompanied by their young.This gesture by today's standard is sustainable harvest. The good old systemof qanats in Iran is the best sustainable mode of irrigation, created for hot,dry environments. Pigeon towers produce manure in large quantities andkill off pests at the same time. The alternatives, i. e. chemical fertilisers

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and pesticides, have never been friendlier to the environments than pigeonmanure. Respect for soil, trees and water is a common denominator amongall the tribal people. Polluting valuable natural resources, in particularwater, has been a great sin, a belief consistent with the general Islamicprinciple that puts water at the centre of the creation of life.

It looks as if in order to understand the new concepts in ecology, weshould look back into our own culture and try to find there the solutionsfor our problems. With an open mind for the future we also consult withour international counterparts* and try to find acceptable solutions at in-ternational and regional levels. It is well understood that conservationof the environment is now a global challenge needing global efforts,and for that reason we are expanding our circle of international friendswithin the environmental fraternity.

With all these efforts and enthusiasm and with increasing publicawareness, the future of wildlife in Iran seems to me secure. There isno place for complacency, rather, great hopes for the unique wildlife col-lection in a unique country.

*Projects initiated by the international organisations are carefully chosenby the Government and executed by the DOE. Examples includeSustainable Development by the UNDP, the National Biodiversity andAction Plan of the UNDP together with the IUCN, and the Cheetahproject initiated by the Global Environmental Facilities (GEF). In all thesecases major development and breakthrough are achieved by co-operationat such high levels.

Fig. 3. The Persian wild ass or onager, another species in need of attention and protection.Their numbers have been dwindling in recent years

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Stories of achievement include the successful captive breeding ofPersian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica), which was presumed extinct.The mugger (Crocodilus pullestris) was once considered in danger in Iran.A protected area in Bahoo-kalat has now secured their fragile populationof around 400 individuals. Onagers with about 3000 individuals in afew scattered populations now need protection. The programmes ofreintroduction to their former territories are being implemented.

The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan is now wellunderway in Iran. Soon a strategy for the conservation of habitats andwildlife will be devised and this strategy will be built into the five-yeardevelopment plans. Continuous assessments will then monitor thewell-being of habitats and wildlife in the Iranian wilderness.

The author would like to thank Sir Terence Clark and Mrs Eileen Humphreysfor their assistance and Mohammad Mehryar for his help with thearchaeologicalfacts.

Fig. 4. A Safavid falconer, woven by the prominent Persian carpet designer, RassamArab-Zadeh. Animals have a strong image in contemporary Persian arts

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REFERENCESHumphreys, P. N., and E. Kahrom, 1995. The Lion and the Gazelle: The Mammals and Birds of

Iran. Distributed by I. B. Tauris Publishers.Kahrom, E., 1997. Sustainable Development in Iran. UNDP and Department of the

Environment, Tehran.Kahrom, E., 1998. Wildlife in Iran. Mohit-e-zist, Department of the Environment, TehranTajbakhsh, M. (ed.), 1995. Nakhjiran (Hunting in Iran). The Museum of Wildlife, Tehran.Ziace, H., 1997. The Mammals of Iran. Department of the Environment, Tehran.

THE SOCIETY'S TIE

Last year the Council commissioned an official tie for the Society andmembers are invited to order them from the Society's office. The tiewas supplied by Messrs Benson & Clegg of Piccadilly Arcade, LondonSWI. It is made of pure silk and bears as its repeated motif the Society'screst, the horns of Ovis Poli superimposed on the rising sun, embroideredin yellow and gold-coloured thread on a dark blue background. The hornsdepicted in the design were presented to the Society by Field Marshal EarlWavell in 1945 and can be seen mounted above the mantelpiece in theLibrary at 2 Belgrave Square. The tie is a smart one and is suitable forwearing with either a dark suit or blazer. Examples are on display at Societyevents, where they can be purchased. Members wishing to order by postshould write to the Secretary, stating the number of ties required andenclosing payment. The ties cost £20 (or US$35) each, plus post andpacking per tie @ £1 for the UK and £2 (or US$4) for Europe andelsewhere.

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