FRWO and GIO Emphasize the Expansion of Cooperation

The fifth session of the National Committee for Management of Hyrcanian Forests was held on Wednesday with emphasis on conservation of the northern forests with the presence of head of FRWO, Director General of Agricultural and Environmental Inspection - General Inspection Organization of Iran (GIO), the Deputy for Rresearch Affairs of Natural Resources Faculty of University of Tarbiat Modarres, deputies and managers of Natural Resources Departments of the northern provinces.

According to FRWO’s website, in this meeting, Khalil Aghaee highlighting the importance of the Hyrcanian forests said that at the moment there are 2.73 m/h of Hyrcanian forests in the country and FRWO's main role is to protect and conserve these valuable resources.

Mr Aghaei said that forestry plans have been prepared for 1.50 m/h of forests so far, and one million hectares of the forests which do not have the forestry plans, will be managed under conservation plans this year.

He also said that the contracting companies that used to harvest timber in the past can bid for conservation plans considering utilization ban.

Deputy Minister also added that for optimal conservation of the northern forests, we need, parallel to recruiting more forest guards to increase the surveillance in the forests; to revise the contracts based on forest area, so that if an offense is committed, the responsible contractor can be identified and punished.

Seyed Hassan Miri Director General of Agricultural and Environmental Inspection of the General Inspection Organization of Iran (GIO), in the fifth meeting of the National Committee for Management of Hyrcanian Forests said the will that now exists in FRWO management team for forest management is operational and result-based, and all FRWO’s colleagues should support this direction.

He further commented that result-based management is important for the success of organization's duties and said that the outcome of these meetings should be led to preservation of the Hyrcanian forests and Buxus trees.

We can attract the participation of people without filing a lawsuit

The Director General of State Inspectorate Organization of Iran referred to the issue of land conversion in Mazandaran province and said that Mazandaran was one of the provinces that used to have the most cases of land conversion breaches, but with cultural work and advocacy and the help of local communities, we could to decrease the breaches without filing a lawsuit to the Judiciary, from 4,000 hectares to 250 hectares in the last two or three years and now down to 28 hectares.