War, economic crisis complicate efforts to protect Iran’s wildlife

By AMIR-HUSSEIN RADJY

CAIRO (AP) — A few days after the U.S. and Israel launched a war on Iran, Reza Kiamarzi decided to trek into the mountains outside his home city of Isfahan in southern Iran. A veterinarian and researcher on birds of prey, his mission was to find nests of endangered falcons high up in the cliffs.

The bombardment during the war on Iran earlier this year coincided with the breeding season for Iran’s cherished Saker and red-naped Shaheen falcons, some of the fastest flying birds in the world. He knew of two nests near military bases that had been struck, and he wanted to know if the explosions, vibrations and noise affected birds laying eggs or raising chicks.

“It’s a long climb to the foot of the cliffs. And then we have to rock climb to reach the nests,” Kiamarzi said.

War and a deepening economic crisis are adding further challenges for conservationists trying to preserve Iran’s rich but endangered wildlife. For years, they have struggled with climate crises that threaten the country’s fragile biodiversity, as well as economic pressures from decades of international sanctions.

Around two and a half times the size of Texas, Iran boasts an astounding diversity of life in its wide range of climates. Northern areas along the Caspian Sea are heavily forested and wet, while the Persian Gulf coast is dry and hot. In between, the country straddles two large mountain ranges: the Zagros and Alborz. Iran lies in a critical corridor and stopover for migratory birds between Eurasia and Africa, lending conservation efforts international importance.

At least 86 animal species in the country are at risk of extinction, including the Asiatic cheetah, Persian fallow deer, brown bear, leopard, black bear, Persian onager, the great bustard and various birds of prey, according to a 2024 report by Iran’s Environment Department.

“It’s a big question how much longer we and other conservation NGOs can keep working. We’re waiting every moment to see what happens,” said Iman Ebrahimi, founder of AvayeBoom, a conservation group based in Isfahan whose name is Persian for “The Earth’s Cry.”

The war gave a shock to Iran’s animal life

Kiamarzi, the veterinarian, said he succeeded in finding the falcon’s nests, and the birds were still present. But he is still assessing his findings to determine the impact of the bombing on the falcons.

Smugglers have been the chief cause of declining falcon populations in Iran. Before the war, Iran’s crashing currency — which has lost over half its value in the past year — spurred an illicit trade in these prized hunting birds, which are sold to Arab Gulf clients paying in valuable foreign currency, he said.

Ironically, in peacetime, military zones have been one of the few areas where falcons can breed safely. “It’s a secure area no one dares get close to, not poachers and smugglers,” he said.

U.S.-based Iranian wildlife expert Jamshid Parchizadeh says he fears U.S. and Israeli airstrikes targeting military facilities in desert and mountain sites have harmed habitats critical to endangered cheetahs and other predators.

“These strikes in far-flung places are causing habitat degradation. Definitely this causes water and land pollution, soil contamination, destruction of land cover,” he said.

Parchizadeh, an expert on Iran’s large carnivores, studied the habitats and causes behind declining populations of Asiatic cheetahs, Persian leopards and the brown bear before leaving Iran in 2022. He now works at Michigan’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife.

“Bombing causes wildlife disturbance for the bears, the leopards who live in the mountains – and that animal forever leaves that area from fear,” he said.

Even before the war, habitats were threatened

Iran’s water-scarce climate is highly fragile, Parchizadeh said. In the past 20 years, Iran’s population has grown from roughly 73 million to over 93 million people, piling further pressure on scant water sources afflicted by decades of mismanagement and yearslong drought.

With the war, access to key wildlife sites on islands in the Persian Gulf has become all but impossible. Despite a preliminary deal to end the war, the U.S. and Iran have continued to trade fire around the strategic area, which hosts Iran’s critical oil and energy industries.

“Unfortunately, two of the most important islands of the Persian Gulf for biodiversity are small islands along Iran’s key oil islands,” said AvayeBoom’s Ebrahimi.

He pointed out there were reports an oil slick reached at least one site on the tiny uninhabited island of Shidvar, a critical breeding site for turtles and tens of thousands of birds.

Iran has an active conservation movement

Historically, Iran’s culture had a deep connection with its wildlife. Carpet-weaving and traditional arts often featured animal motifs like the Persian lion, which has not been seen in the country in over 70 years.

Iran was one of the first countries in the world to form an environmental protection agency and established its Environment Department a year after the U.S. opened its own agency in 1970. But restrictions on development in protected areas — which are typically in poorer, rural areas — have often spurred tensions with locals.

The Arjan protected area, a vast territory encompassing important wetlands in the southern province of Fars, was set aside in the 1970s for a project to reintroduce the Persian lion into the wild. But authorities abandoned the project after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Residents of the village of Dasht-e Arjan complained that protection status was hampering the local economy, Ebrahimi said.

They are trying to rebuild the public’s links to wildlife

Four years ago, AvayeBoom began a campaign to raise wildlife awareness among residents around Arjan, holding workshops and other activities with the community. For the face of the campaign, it chose the ruddy shelduck, a water fowl with vivid orange plumage that’s well known among residents. A mural of the bird was painted in the street of a main town.

After the ceasefire in April, members of AvayeBoom returned to the village. They concluded that the campaign, including workshops and a street mural of the shelduck, had greatly increased recognition of the distinct bird and improved general environmental awareness.

“Despite the war, the majority of people considered the environment, the nearby wetlands they have and the wildlife there very important to them,” said Fateme Kazemi, the CEO of AvayeBoom.

But security and the economy are weighing on them

Waves of anti-government protests in recent years and now the war have also led to tighter security restrictions. A wildlife photographer who studies birdlife on the Persian Gulf coast said she had stopped photographing out of security concerns in recent months.