Fires Wreak Havoc on Iran’s Wetlands and Forests
A fire has engulfed 500 hectares of the Iranian section of the Hoor Al-Azim wetland and five hectares of the Olong forest in Shahrood. Local residents and authorities have been working tirelessly to contain the fires.
Fire Engulfs Hoor Al-Azim Wetland
On July 15, the number one reservoir of the Hoor Al-Azim wetland in Iran caught fire. The Director-General of Environmental Protection in Khuzestan, Davoud Mirshekar, reported that 500 hectares of the wetland were affected by the fire.
In an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on July 17, Mirshekar explained that the area affected by the fire was difficult to access due to the high volume of reeds, making it challenging to extinguish the fire.
Mirshekar also noted that since the beginning of the summer season, there have been 58 instances of fires in areas under the management of the Department of Environment, covering an estimated area of 1,177 hectares.
Fire Spreads from Iraq to Iran
Farhad Ghali Nejad, Deputy Director of Human Environment of the General Department of Environmental Protection in Khuzestan, told the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) on July 18 that the Iraqi section of the Hoor Al-Azim wetland caught fire on July 14, and the fire gradually spread to the Iranian section.
Ghali Nejad stated that the smoke from the fire reached Ahvaz and engulfed the south and northeast of the city for several hours. However, due to wind currents, the smoke eventually left the city. He also mentioned that this is the first time this year that the Iranian section has caught fire, but the Iraqi section has experienced several fires since the beginning of summer.
The Need for Joint Efforts
To quickly contain the fire, the participation of relevant officials in Iran and Iraq was necessary.
Hoor Al-Azim, or the Great Marsh, is Iran’s largest border wetland, located on the Iran-Iraq border. This wetland is very rich in animal and plant resources, with an average depth of 5 meters and covering an area of over 120,000 hectares. The water reserves of this wetland are supplied by the Karun River in Iran and the Tigris River in Iraq. The entire Hoor Al-Azim wetland is covered with reeds.
In recent years, due to the drying up of large parts of Hoor Al-Azim, the wetland has faced extensive fires, especially in the Iraqi section, from the beginning of summer. The thick smoke from these fires sometimes engulfs six counties in Khuzestan province.
The water crisis in the Karun basin has also put this wetland under stress for the past three years. According to Article 3 of the Regulations on the Protection, Revival, and Management of Wetlands, the method of allocating environmental water rights of wetlands from upstream rivers, after providing drinking water, takes precedence over other uses. If sufficient water is allocated to the wetlands and they do not dry up, the likelihood of fires in the hot seasons decreases.The head of the Environmental Protection Department in Shahrood, Ali Akbar Ghorbanlou, reported a fire in the Olong forest.
The fire, which started on July 15, was successfully contained after five hours of extensive efforts by several groups from the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Unit of Shahrood, firefighters from the city of Kalateh-ye Khij, and local forces. Despite these efforts, about five hectares of the Olong forest pastures were burned and destroyed.
Ghorbanlou stated that the fire occurred after another fire had burned two hectares of the Olong forest the previous day, reportedly due to the carelessness of tourists and visitors in the area. Local residents and shepherds were also blamed for starting fires to facilitate grazing for their sheep in subsequent years. The Mehr News Agency reported that the “negligence of tourists” was another factor contributing to the fires.
More Than 697 Fires Since March
The Olong forest is located in the Yeylagh region of Shahrood, on the border with Azadshahr and Ramiyan in Golestan province. The forest fire and the Hoor Al-Azim wetland fire are part of a series of fires that have devastated vast vegetation cover in different parts of Iran in recent months. In April and May, part of the vegetation cover of the Zagros forests in various provinces was burned. Locals made great efforts to extinguish the fires. To speed up the containment of forest and pasture fires, there is a need for water-spraying helicopters, as it is often impossible for officers to be present amidst the fire. Due to the lack of sufficient equipment available to relevant officials, many pastures and forest covers are destroyed after fires.
According to statistics from the Protection and Conservation Office of the Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization of the country, from around March 2024 to July 13 this year, 697 fires have occurred in the natural areas of our country, involving a total of 12,904 hectares of the country’s forests and pastures. Of these fires, 583 incidents involving 12,600 hectares were related solely to the Zagros region.
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