TEHRAN – Iran has increased the budget for forest protection by two folds in the national budget bill for the current [Iranian calendar] calendar year (started on March 20), head of the Forests, Rangelands, and Watershed Management Organization (FRWMO) has said.

A total of 5.3 trillion rials (around $126 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) has been proposed for forest protection in the budget bill, which shows an increase of 50 percent compared to the last year’s budget, Masoud Mansour stated, IRNA reported on Tuesday.

According to the budget bill, the FRWMO budget should be used for different measures of watershed management, soil protection, desertification, rehabilitation, development and proper exploitation of forests and rangelands, empowerment of local communities and etc.

Last year, about 47,000 hectares of damaged forests were covered by a development and reforestation plan, he said.

According to the measures taken to reduce wood smuggling in the northern forests of the country, last year compared to the same period a year before, wood logging decreased by 30 percent and the number of discoveries by 20 percent.

Mansour explained that today, inside the protected forests, we are witnessing a decrease in the level of density, which needs to be controlled, and by implementing the Hyrcanian forest aerial surveys, the destruction of northern forests can be prevented.

Currently, the first phase will be piloted on about 100 km, and it is planned to expand the project to all northern forests and a year later to all forests across the country, he stated.

The proposed budget amounted to about 24.357 quadrillion rials (about $580 billion), with a 20-percent rise from last year’s budget.

Supplying basic goods, treatment, and medical equipment; securing livelihood; supporting production and employment; promoting and supporting non-oil exports and knowledge-based companies are the focal points of the bill.

FB/MG