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Challenges to the Future Development of Iran’s Protected Areas System

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Abstract

Since the 1950s, there has been a continuous increase in the number and coverage of protected areas (PAs) in Iran, and in total 253 PAs have been declared that cover 10.12 % of the country’s area. This paper reviews literature addressing Iran’s PAs, examines what is known about them, highlights the challenges and lessons learned, and identifies areas where more research is needed. The PA system in Iran is criticized because of (1) shortages of manpower, equipment, and financial resources; (2) de jure PAs that are often implemented as de facto reserves; (3) lack of national biodiversity indicators and objective monitoring processes; and (4) limited public participation and conflict between people over PAs. To improve, Iran’s PAs system needs to be realistically supported by policies and planning instruments. In addition, the implementation of active management to restore habitat, increase education and awareness, shift practices towards the guidelines of international organizations, build capacity, and improve management and co-management by local communities needs to occur.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to all those who gave us the possibility to complete this paper. We want to thank the Department of the Environment of Iran for giving us permission to use departmental data, especially our deeply indebted to Mr. Farid, Mr. Davodi, Mr. Reisi, Mr. Mashhadi, and all its nice personnel.

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  1. Department of Social Informatics, Kyoto University, Yoshida Honmachi, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan

    Mahdi Kolahi, Tetsuro Sakai & Kazuyuki Moriya

  2. Faculty of Natural Resources, Tehran University, Karaj, Iran

    Majid F. Makhdoum

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  1. Mahdi Kolahi
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Correspondence to Mahdi Kolahi.

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Kolahi, M., Sakai, T., Moriya, K. et al. Challenges to the Future Development of Iran’s Protected Areas System. Environmental Management 50, 750–765 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-012-9895-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-012-9895-5

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