Iran registers ownership of 16 wetlands as government steps up conservation drive
Iran has issued state ownership deeds for 16 nationally significant wetlands, Vice President and Head of the Department of Environment (DoE) Shina Ansari said on Monday in Tehran, marking a legal push to shore up protection of fragile ecosystems under mounting climatic and structural pressure.
Speaking at a World Wetlands Day ceremony attended by First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref, Ansari said official documentation had been completed for wetlands including Hoz-e Soltan, Quri Gol, Salehiyeh, Parishan and Arjan, Alagol and Ajigol, and Baram Alwan, with title deeds registered in the name of the Islamic Republic of Iran, IRNA reported.
She credited inter-agency coordination, notably with the State Organization for Registration of Deeds and Properties, for accelerating the process. “Iran is the birthplace of global wetland conservation, yet our wetlands are under severe stress,” Ansari said, citing constrained resources, engineering-led approaches and neglect of ecological water needs.
She described wetlands as among the country’s most contested environmental challenges.
Ansari said the government had launched corrective measures, with the National Wetland Management Coordination Headquarters meeting regularly and following up decisions “with seriousness”.
Ensuring environmental water rights, restoring degraded sites and documenting indigenous and traditional knowledge form the backbone of the strategy, which she called “an investment in the future”.
Local communities, she said, had historically preserved wetlands even during prolonged droughts by relying on native knowledge, prompting the department to blend traditional practices with modern management. Tehran is also pursuing cross-sectoral reforms to overhaul decision-making structures and enforce an integrated approach to river basin governance, with provincial committees chaired by governors convening on a continuous basis.
Over the past year, Iran secured Ramsar Site status for the Gandoman wetland and introduced three “wetland cities” internationally. Ansari said Iran had also retained the regional Ramsar Convention Centre, which supports 15 countries, after plans to relocate it to an Arab state were reversed, extending its presence in Iran for another three years.