2653 plant and animal life in danger of extinction in Iran

Iran Press News: The regime-run newspaper SARMAYEH reported: 2654 forms of plant and animal life indigenous to Iran are under serious threat of extinction. Delavar Najafi, deputy chief of the natural environment protection organization said: “The number includes 32 species of mamals, 19 species of birds, 9 species of reptiles, 4 species of jumpers, 14 species of fish and 2448 tyes of plants." Ms. Najafi explained that the main causes contributing to these forms of devastation to the environment are mainly human factors such as chaotic and uncontrolled expansion, lack of laws in hunting, cutting trees, cattle grazing in excess of what the natural patterns can handle, total lack of concern and attention to the environment by the authorities, lack of funding and allocation of budgets for combatting droughts, floods and hurricanes.”

Njafi emphasized that 33.7% of country’s land is under the protection of the natural environment protection organization and added: "But all the species that are under the threat of extinction are not only concentrated and limited to these 33.7% of the area under our watch; they are scattered all across the country. The natural environment protection organization has a supervisory role. So, the only thing that the authorities of this organization can do is give warnings but in fact the legal vacuum within this organization has our hands tied and has prohibited us from taking proper action.”

Najafi spoke of the action that the organization has taken for deminishing threats to the environment, saying: “The species under threaten of extinction such as panthers and Sibrian Cranes are under special coverage. The biological diversity in a the Zagros basin is on a topical-basis under protection and support as well as the direct conservation of ecological diversity across the country. Actually however development schemes have crushed our ecology and the areas most polluted and desacrated that are under our management are as a direct result of the unstable and derelict development plans of the government."

Iran has 10, 363 and species of plant and animal.