It is not wrong to say that “environment” and related terms are one of the most commonly used words of the 21st century. It is a general term that, like the word “culture” in many texts, conversations, and speeches, is often used and in many cases, less accurately. For many, the environment is synonymous with a lush and dense forest with a roaring river and a blue sky, and anything other than that, such as deserts, urban spaces, or man-made structures, is not considered part of the environment.

It is clear that the environment has the meaning of “living space” and includes the place where the main pillar of life is located. For humans, it is their home, neighborhood, city, country, etc. The environment is like a single-celled amoeba, a container full of water in which it continues its life. This environment can provide very favorable conditions for living beings, or it can be damaged due to various factors, to the extent that it endangers the lives of the organisms within it.

As mentioned, the environment is interpretable from various perspectives for humans and, in general, it is a space that provides for their basic needs including the need for breathing, food, and safety. These needs are met through the assets present in that environment (which can be living or non-living) and the relationships governing them. Any changes in these relationships and conditions, whether short-term or long-term, will put human life at risk.

In general, nature is considered the most important environment for humans. Everything that humans have been successful in building and producing has come from nature. This is an undeniable fact. On the other hand, the first and most important principle in environmental science is the “web of life”. This means that all forms of life, from microscopic organisms to the largest animals like blue whales, are all connected in a vast and complex network (both directly and indirectly); and like any other network, the survival and quality of life of each of these elements ensures the survival of the entire network. This complex network of viruses, fungi, plants, and animals provides us with food, clothing, shelter, and medicine, and the interrelationships between these elements will ensure the dynamism and survival of nature (as the main environment). What is known today as “environmental activities” is an effort to preserve this network and its constituent elements. In fact, what these activities are trying to achieve is firstly the survival of the network

The right to life is the most fundamental human right. The environmental protection perspective extends this right to other living beings as well. From this perspective, humans have the right to live, but this right should not be interpreted as taking away the right to life from other living beings. In fact, according to environmental activists, the right to life is not exclusive to humans, because if other forms of life are harmed, human life is also at risk.

For example, until the 1950s, the “Hyrcanian tiger” species, also known as the “Mazandaran tiger”, lived in the forests of northern Iran. One of the main factors contributing to the sharp decline in the population of this species was hunting. Only “Masoud Mirza Zill al-Sultan”, the famous Qajar prince and governor of Fars, mentions the killing of 37 tigers in his memoirs. At that time, tigers were seen as a dangerous animal for humans and killing these large felines was considered a means of protecting humans. The last reported sighting of a tiger in Iran was in 1956, when a villager near Minudasht (in the current province of Golestan) chased and hunted one. Since then, there have been no reports of tiger sightings and this species is now considered extinct in Iran. At first glance, the presence of tigers in the forest may seem like a threat to the

One example of damage to the environment is the case of Heirkan tiger, which is caused by human interference and has also affected humans. However, there are other examples of this damage to the environment. In 1389, the residents of “Darreh Zereshk” village (a village near the city of Ardekan in Yazd province) discovered that the government intended to reopen the old and abandoned copper mine in their village. This mine was discovered in the 1340s, but due to low ore grade, it was not profitable to extract from it and was left abandoned. The mining activities in this copper mine posed a threat of water pollution, as Darreh Zereshk was located in the upper part of a vast plain called “Yazd-Ardekan plain” and on the other hand, this area was known as a recreational area in the dry province of Yazd due to the presence of springs and underground water sources. The process of extraction

The story of the copper mine in Zarshak valley is another example of harm to the network; a harm caused by humans as one of the components of the network, which could have a negative impact on the lives of other humans and could not be prevented by the resistance of the locals. There are many examples of this. But they all have one thing in common: harm to any part of the network will also harm other components of the network.

This is how environmental activists react to events such as the death of a panther, the construction of a dam on a river, or the cutting down of trees in a forest. What is important in these events is not just the loss of one individual from the population of panthers or the decrease in water input to a natural lake, but the endangerment of the survival of other living beings as parts of a network in which humans are also members. In fact, what the perspective of environmental protection relies on is the right to life in the sense of “survival”, not just the right to life for individual members of living species. From this perspective, the right to life as the most fundamental human right is dependent on the survival of other living beings; a survival that is achieved in a network of living beings and in direct connection with non-living natural objects.

Surely in such a network, focusing solely on human rights and survival will never lead to a solution and will only further threaten it. This is the most fundamental concept in environmental protection. In other words, what has been raised in recent decades as the idea of environmental protection has primarily considered the survival of humans and has come to the conclusion that the survival of the human species is dependent on the survival of other species. Naturally, the survival of other species is also dependent on the preservation of their environment and their natural connections with others.