Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization

 9 June 2022 - Governor General, Dr. Assadollah Abbasi, also mentioned that paying not close attention to the forests today creates injustice to future generations called for careful attention to be paid to forest development and the conservation of Anfal.

He reiterated: Given the Supreme Leader's special attention and great emphasis on conservation of Anfal and development  of  forest areas and natural resources along with  the sensitivity of the 13^th government of I.R of Iran in this field, the importance of this issue should be well realized by presenting transformative plans to society."

 Dr. Abbasi continued: "We should believe that any expenditure in the conservation and development of natural resources and watershed management is an investment and everyone will benefit from it."

Emphasizing on using the capacities of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to plant trees and support afforestation and using timber farming revenues  for forest restoration, Governor General said: "Science-based ways to take care of trees aimed at forest development, and at the meanwhile, implementation of strategic programs in timber farming is vital to meet the needs of the wood and paper industry. However, in this section, the suitable replacement of adapted native and fast-growing trees  to Guilan province, should be considered".

In this meeting, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Jahad and Head of Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization (NRWO) said: NRWO is mandated to conserve water and soil resources and vegetation cover that these elements have a great impact on maintaining food security and communities' sustainability.

Masoud Mansour, referring to the issues of forests, rangelands and watershed management during his visit to Guilan province reiterated: " Governor General's  special attention to the issues of natural resources management, has improved conditions in this province in terms of land grabbing and conservation of Anfal compared with other provinces.

Referring to the Logging Ban Initiative (LBI) in Hyrcanian forests due to the last year of that initiative, he said: "Logging Ban Initiative (LBI) does not mean the end of management and conservation of valuable Hyrcanian forests in Guilan. NRWO hopes that with a better mechanism in the seventh Five-Year Economic, Social and Cultural development plan in comparison with sixth development plan, effective measures should be taken".

He said that conservation of water and soil resources in the watersheds of Guilan is quite vital, and noted that a study to decide about the necessity and the benefits of the plan of removal of livestock from the forests is on-going, once it has been accomplished NRWO will decide whether to implement the plan or stop it.

Mansour also described Natural Resources and Watershed management Organization's  programs and activities in Guilan province, and said that the development of timber farming, including Poplar tree farming in  this province, which is one of the leading provinces, was very effective in preventing timber smuggling and developing production and employment.

The meeting concluded with emphasizing on strengthening more effective bilateral cooperation aimed at developing of natural resources management.