Iran's Department of Environment has allocated about $200,000 for the enhancement of environmental protection infrastructures at the Golestan National Park.
The technical committee of the park's management council convened for the first time on Thursday.
DOE's deputy for natural environment Hamid Zohrabi told the meeting that of the allocated funds, $115,000 will be spent on acquiring modern equipment and completing the studies on Golestan's biosphere reserves.
"The remainder will be used to renovate park ranger facilities across the Golestan National Park," he said, as quoted by the DOE's website.
Zohrabi noted that a memorandum of understanding has been signed with the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology to develop a real-time monitoring system to allow for a fast response to potential wildfire incidents at sensitive parts of the park, which is endowed with a rich ecology.
Raft of Challenges
The Thursday session focused on exploring ways to address the threats facing the biosphere, including unsupervised resorts, extensive livestock grazing, the accident-prone road that cuts across the park and lack of underpasses to ensure safe wildlife roaming.
Inadequate monitoring equipment, widespread poaching, recurring floods and lack of cooperation from local communities were among other issues raised in the meeting.
It was attended by the representatives of local residents and NGOs, environmental experts and officials from other concerned state bodies.
Fatal road crashes are common in the park, threatening the lives of protected wildlife species such as rare leopards and deer, among others.
In addition, irregular entry of tourists has created problems for wildlife.
Accumulation of garbage can cause contamination of underground waters and forest environment.
This puts the sources of animal food at risk. Also annually, many forest fires occur largely due to negligence by visitors and travelers.
Golestan National Park is situated between the eastern parts of the Alborz Mountains and the western fringes of the Khorasan-Kopet Dag.
Biosphere Reserve
It has been registered as the Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Program due to its great ecological value.
The park is one of the most biodiverse protected areas in Iran, boasting species as varied as Persian leopards, Indian wolves, wild boars, maral deer, roe deer, urial (a type of wild sheep), wild goats and goitered gazelles.
It has several habitats, including temperate broad leaf forests, grasslands, shrubs and rocky areas. There are 1,350 plant species and 302 animal species in the park; it hosts half of the country's mammal species.
