There is no place for environmentalists.

Environmental protection is like a deterrent agent, similar to law enforcement, and it strives to protect animal species. However, in the process, environmental protection does not have job security and there are still no strong laws and security measures in place for environmental protectors in the country. Previously, the Environmental Organization could directly seal off and prevent the activities of polluting or destructive units, but with a legislative amendment by parliament representatives, this authority was taken away from the organization and now their supervision over these units is limited to reporting to the judicial system.

“On one hand, we have corruption in public and on the other hand, we have Article 688 of the Penal Code which imposes a maximum sentence of one year for offenders. These two cases are the minimum and maximum punishments and there is no proportionality between them, which requires correction.”

In article 688 of the Penal Code, it is stated: “Any action that is recognized as a threat to public health, such as contaminating drinking water or distributing contaminated drinking water, disposing of human and animal waste, dumping poisonous substances into rivers, littering on the streets, and unauthorized slaughter of animals, using raw sewage or wastewater from sewage treatment plants for agricultural purposes is prohibited and those who commit such acts, unless subject to stricter penalties under specific laws, will be sentenced to imprisonment for up to one year.”

Environmentalists in the position of special guardians.

According to Article 54 of the Law on Protection and Management of Forests and Rangelands, passed in 1346, forest rangers are considered officers in charge of all crimes mentioned in the aforementioned law, such as cutting, uprooting, and burning seedlings and trees, under the condition that they have been trained in a specific class to perform the duties of judicial officers. In addition, according to Article 19 of the Law on Hunting and Poaching, passed in 1346, game wardens operate under the supervision of the prosecutor in cases of unauthorized hunting and poaching, under the condition that they have been trained in the specific class to perform the duties of judicial officers. Furthermore, according to Article 15 of the Law on Environmental Protection and Improvement, passed in 1346, officers of the Environmental Protection Organization are considered officers in charge of crimes mentioned, such as any action that may lead to environmental pollution, under specific conditions and after being trained in a specific class

As you can see, considering that environmental guards are special judicial officers, protective laws must be passed as soon as possible to ensure their safety during missions. In recent years, many environmental guards have lost their lives during missions, despite having all the powers of a judicial officer. Environmental guards have the authority to use weapons if necessary and in proportion to the situation when dealing with environmental offenders, as stated in the law passed in 1994. In cases of necessity, environmental guards must use weapons and necessary training must be provided to them; because the main reason for the conviction of environmental guards in judicial courts is that they shoot without following the conditions specified in the law.

It is interesting to know that the first legal regulations regarding hunting were drafted and approved on 18 Ordibehesht 1307 (May 8, 1928) and on 14 Esfand 1335 (March 5, 1957), independent and relatively comprehensive regulations for wildlife protection were approved by the parliament and the Hunting and Fishing Association was formed, consisting of individuals interested in hunting and fishing. The Minister of Interior and the Chief of Staff of the Army at the time also joined the association in order to enforce the laws. On 16 Khordad 1346 (June 6, 1967), the Hunting and Fishing Organization replaced the Hunting and Fishing Association and officially began its activities as an independent government entity, starting with training hunters nationwide and designating areas as wildlife reserves.

In 1971, with the emergence of environmental issues on a global scale, this organization changed its name to “Environmental Protection Organization” and took responsibility for environmental issues in the country. It continued its collaboration with international organizations. The Environmental Protection Organization has designated regions under the title of four protected areas according to international standards, each with its own specific conditions and regulations. Currently, the total number of these areas in the country has reached 253.

A brief look at the state of the world’s environment is indicative of the fact that in recent decades, the Earth has suffered irreparable damage due to human activities. Neglecting the capacity of the environment, improper exploitation of natural resources, and human exploitation of the environment have created conditions for societies to face various environmental problems. Positive effects, such as increasing the sensitivity of countries and the adoption of hundreds of laws and regulations at the domestic and international levels, have been the result of support and attention to environmental issues by governments, which has even led to a decrease in the trend towards less destruction and damage to the environment in some countries. However, overall, global environmental problems are still intertwined with the future of humanity. For this reason, the role of global organizations and mechanisms in preserving the environment and strengthening the capacity of international conventions and regional treaties is more necessary than ever. (1) (2) Therefore, the presence of individuals such as environmentalists is crucial. An environmentalist is someone who

1- Visiting and fully identifying the conservation area in the field of environmental resources, taking into account the assigned duties and reporting to the superiors.

2- Visiting and identifying all conservation events that lead to transformation, destruction, and pollution of the environment; such as fire, flood, river overflow, earthquake, disease and mortality of wild animals, outbreak of plant pests, various environmental pollutions, sources of pollution and various construction and building activities, reckless grazing in pastures, cutting and destruction of trees, shrubbery, and presenting necessary reports to the authorities.

3- Implementation of laws and regulations for environmental protection and improvement, hunting and fishing based on instructions issued by the authorities.

4- Taking action in the field of discovering crimes and arresting offenders based on issued guidelines.

5- Investigation of licenses related to the reasons for settlements in these areas according to issued guidelines.

6- Prevention of destruction and encroachment on natural resources in areas under the jurisdiction of the organization, in accordance with issued guidelines.

7- Issuing hunting and fishing licenses in conservation areas as necessary according to the above order.

8- Visiting and controlling hunting documents and licenses.

9- Prevention of illegal hunting and poaching, setting up a committee to address violations, and reporting offenders to the appropriate authorities.

10- Preparation of statistics on wildlife and identification of hunting areas and reporting it to the authorities.

11- Maintenance and preservation of government facilities and properties under control.

12- Preparation and arrangement of a report on the activities carried out and presenting it to the superiors.

But the noteworthy point here is that the environment and its rights are not the first priority of any country or government in the world; even industrialized and advanced countries with high economic status. Therefore, with the current conditions for the human living environment, other countries in the world cannot consider the environment as a local and specific issue for themselves; for this reason, the environment has become a global issue. The Islamic Republic has directly allocated a principle to the discussion of the environment in its constitution; in fact, the constitution has seriously considered the preservation of the environment as a public duty in the fiftieth principle, but this principle, like other neglected principles, is suspended.

According to the conducted studies, some of the environmental issues can be expressed as follows:

Standardization

According to global standards, every four thousand hectares should be protected by one environmental guard. However, in Iran, each environmental guard is responsible for protecting forty thousand hectares, leading to a shortage of personnel and resulting in a three-digit number of environmental guards being killed. This statistic does not include the guards who have been thrown off cliffs during their missions or have been killed in pursuit of offenders. On October 29, 2014, the commander of the Environmental Protection Unit in Mazandaran announced that one hundred guards have been killed while carrying out their duties in Iran.

Vacuum of protective laws

Low wages, lack of welfare facilities, administrative and supportive loopholes, and legal issues are some of the problems that environmentalists refer to. According to one environmentalist: “Unfortunately, environmentalists have no value or position, and even people do not know exactly who they are and what they do, and all of this is a major weakness in this field.” This environmentalist emphasizes that while in all shift jobs, a person has 24 hours of work and 48 hours of rest, this law does not apply to environmentalists, stating: “Environmentalists should work for 18 days and have 12 days off. 18 days of work means 480 hours of work, while everyone else works 144 hours a month.” (5) Increasing working hours without having the right to leave, overtime, weapons, uniforms, and shift work, in addition to low wages, is the most important challenge for environmentalists in the country.

Financial problems

Every job has its own specific difficulties and the environment is not exempt from these problems. It could be said that currently the biggest problem and concern for environmentalists is financial issues. Despite the high workload of environmentalists, their salaries are much lower than the average society. Despite the approval of a three thousand point difficulty in the salaries of environmentalists, unfortunately it has not been implemented in some provinces.

Human resource shortage

Human resource shortage is another concern of environmentalists. For example, in Bushehr province, there are only six environmentalists, which is a very small number; because when there is a shortage of manpower, the pressure on other forces will increase several times. Most of the environmentalists in Bushehr province are considered contract workers and their maximum salary is between seven hundred thousand to eight hundred thousand tomans, which is a very low amount.

And finally, the environment protectors who are involved in clashes with illegal hunters and while performing their duties within the framework of the laws of the country, if they commit murder or injury, they should not be sentenced to capital punishment or amputation; while in recent years, in some cases, it has been seen that some judges have not paid much attention to the issue of legitimate defense.

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Supporting environmentalists is essential. This support should be both legal and economic in order to solve more environmental problems. It seems that the country’s environmental organization should work with the help of the Islamic Consultative Assembly to develop laws that support environmentalists as soon as possible, so that these dear ones can bravely and boldly protect and preserve the environment and wildlife of our beloved country.

Notes:

1- Shafiei, Seyede Kowsar, and Babaei, Dariush, Civil Liability of Environmental Protectors in the Legal System of Iran, presented at: Fourth National Conference on the Efficiency Assessment of Law in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1396.

2- Same.

3- Executive Regulations for the Implementation of the Environmental Protection and Improvement Law.

4- Ebrahimi, Abolghasem, Hassani, Alireza, and Rahmani Sani, Abolfazl, A Review of Legal Laws for the Protection of Environmental Defenders, Quarterly Journal of Human and Environment, Volume 15, Issue 2 (Issue Number 41), July 2017, pp. 123-132.

5- Same.

6- Same.