Int. J. Environ. Res., 7(3):561-568, Summer 2013ISSN: 1735-6865

Received 9 Aug. 2012; Revised 12 Feb. 2013; Accepted 26 April 2013

*Corresponding author E-mail:javaherian@irandoe.org

561

Investigating the Impacts of Global Environmental Evolutions on Long-termPlanning of Natural Resources in Iran

Javaherian, Z.1*, Maknoon, R.2, Abbaspour, M. and Moharamnejad, N.

1 Department of Environment and Energy, Science & Research Branch, Islamic Azad University,Tehran, Iran

2 Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT),Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Environment and Energy, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University,P .O. Box 14515-775, Tehran, Iran and School of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of

Technology, P. O. Box 11155-8639, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT:The main objective of the current study is to investigate the impacts of environmental evolutionsat global scale on Iran’s environmental planning. Thereby, all political movements towards solving environmentalissues in Iran were accurately reviewed to find out the impressibility of the events by the global environmentalevolutions. The findings indicated that Iran has joined the conventions and protocols with a time lag. Duringthe period 1948-1993, the mean time lag between holding an international convention until its approval in Iranwas eleven years while from 1994 to 2007, the average lag time was shortened to four years. As the resultsshow, attention to environmental issues was improved from one note on First Development Plan of thecountry (1989-1993), to three notes on the Second Development Plan (1995-1999), and one complete chapteron the Third Development Plan (2000-2005). Moreover, one of the six chapters of the Fourth DevelopmentPlan (2005-2009) (about 20 percent of the whole program) was dedicated to the environmental issues. In theFifth Development Plan (2011-2015), sixteen topics have been raised at Environment Chapter and thirteenlegal articles have been proposed in other chapters with a focus on environmental issues. It can be concludedthat there has always been a direct link between international treaties and major political decisions in Iran.

Key words: Environmental conventions, Development programs, Protocols, Convections, Iran

INTRODUCTIONNowadays, due to the growing trend of

environmental degradation and destruction of naturalresources, environmental protection has become animportant task for governments towards achievingsustainable development and protecting the rights offuture generations (Spanou et al., 2012; Lahijanian, 2012;Mossalanejad, 2012; Feng et al., 2012; Basso et al.,2012; Amiri et al., 2013; Mondejar-Jimenez et al., 2013;Faryadi and Taheri, 2009; Yuan et al., 2010). In recentdecades, there have been joint efforts to protect theenvironment (Ciavola et al., 2011; Chung, 2010; Miller,2007).Organizing three world conferences in Stockholm,Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg by United NationsEnvironment Program (UNEP) as well as ratifying morethan twenty conventions and protocols in the field of

environment are among the most important affairscarried out in the last two decades (Carr and Norman,2008; Seyfang, 2003; Spalding-Fecher et al., 2005).Given the large number of member countries,environmental conventions and protocols have playeda significant role in the performance of thegovernments to prevent environmental degradations.In other words, an international determination hascurrently been made for environmental conservation.The issue has strongly influenced development plansin Iran. In recent years, the leaders of the countrieshave recognized the importance of the environmentalissues ( Mossalanejad, 2013; Moghimi and Alambeigi,2012; Junquera and Del Brio, 2012; Perez-Calderon etal., 2012; Mondejar-Jimenez et al., 2012; Vukicevic andNedovic-Budic, 2012: Sanchez-Ollero et al., 2012;

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Javaherian, Z. et al.

Escobar et al., 2012; Nejadi et al., 2012; Fumagalli andToccolini, 2012; Kim et al., 2012; Mossalanejad, 2011;Pirani and Secondi, 2011) . Accordingly, they haveattempted to impose some environmental regulationsat national levels or sing some international agreements.In fact, countries are looking for ways to reduceenvironmental degradations, along with economicdevelopment . The concept of sustainable developmentemphasizes that economic prosperity regardless ofenvironmental issues is quite impossible. Due to thefact that environmental problems cannot be restrictedto political boundaries, an international cooperation isneeded to solve them. During the recent decades, theworld has witnessed a number of environmentalchallenges such as climate change or loss ofbiodiversity and consequently, many convections andsummits have been held to overcome the issues.Obviously, the success of such treaties is related tohow they are being implemented in countries.Accordingly, the current study aims at investigatingthe impacts of global environmental evolutions onmacro-level policy-making in Iran. It was attempted toshow the impressibility manner of the long-term plansby the transboundary contracts.

MATERIALS & METHODSThe current research is a descriptive-analytical

study focusing on the impacts of global environmentalevolutions on long-term planning of natural resourcesin Iran. For this propose, all the relevant literatureswere accurately reviewed by referring to the relatedorganizations and research centers includingDepartment of Environment (DoE), Vice President ofStrategic Planning and Monitoring (VPSPM), CentralLibrary & Documentation Center (CLDC) of Universityof Tehran, Library of Islamic Consultative Assembly(LICA) and National Library and Archives Organizationof Iran (NLAI). During data collection, some interviewswere conducted with experts in the fields ofenvironment and politician to bridge the gap ininformation available on environmental legislationprocedures, both in Iran and in the world. Accordingly,all conventions and protocols related to environmentalissues were listed. In the analytical phase of the study,all political movements towards environmental issuesin Iran were accurately reviewed to find out theimpressibility of the events by global environmentalevolutions.

RESULT & DISCUSSIONBetween the years 1948 - 1971, the International

Union for Conservation of Nature and NaturalResources (IUCN-1971) was founded. Severalenvironmental conventions such as “Convention onWetlands of International Importance especially as

Waterfowl Habitat” so-called Ramsar Convention werealso approved during the same period of time (Ramsar,1971; Berwick, 1969). Simultaneously, the medium-termdevelopment plans of Iran were enforced in the form offour different development plans from 1948 to 1972. Ingeneral, the environmental achievements of these planswere only limited to utilization of natural resources aswell as rehabilitation and exploitation of forests andaquaculture. In 1971, by establishing Iran’s Departmentof Environment (I.R.-DOE), conservation affairs suchas prevention of any actions leading to pollution orenvironmental degradation were assigned to thisorganization (DOE, 2004; Tofigh, 2006). In 1972,“International Conference on Environment andHumanity” was held by UN (United Nations) whichholds human beings responsible for maintaining andimproving the environment for present and futuregenerations. It also emphasizes on the rational planningof natural resources to solve any conflicts betweendevelopment needs, conservation requirements andenvironmental improvement (Vasseur, 1973). After theStockholm Conference in 1977, United Nations GeneralAssembly (UNGA) voted in favor of launching theUnited Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Thedecision was adopted to enjoy a healthy environment,encourage environmental activities at regional andinternational levels, and reform laws and internationaltreaties for controlling environmental degradation(Sandbrook, 1999). Establishing environmentalprotection agencies, the global approach toenvironmental protection in Stockholm Conference andholding several conventions caused many evolutionsin Iran and in the world during the twenty years untilRio Conference in 1992. Among the evolutions in Irancan be pointed to the approval of EnvironmentalProtection and Improvement Law in 1974 (DOE, 2004)by which not only the organizational structure of theDOE was changed, but also an extensive authority wasgiven to the organization in order to preventenvironmental degradation. This caused to beconsidered environmental issues in the five-yeardevelopment plans before the Islamic Revolution (1973-77). However, the environmental issues were generallydiscussed in the plans. During these years, Iran joinedthree conventions including Protection of the WorldCultural and Natural Heritage (1975), The Conventionon International Trade in Endangered Species of WildFauna and Flora (CITES) ( 1976) and Kuwait RegionalConvention (1980) (Table 1).

For the first time since the Islamic Revolution in1979, one principle was assigned to the environmentalissues in the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran(Hamd haidari et al., 2008). The fiftieth principle ofIslamic Republic of Iran Constitution states: “In Islamic

Int. J. Environ. Res., 7(3):561-568, Summer 2013

563

Republic of Iran, conservation of the environmentwhere the present and coming generations shouldcontinue a growing social life is considered as a publicduty. Therefore, economic and other activities whichmay be followed by the irreparable pollution ordestruction of environment shall be prohibited”. Dueto the failure to implement the medium-term plans inIran between the years 1979-1982 and the pilot programset for the year 66-1362, practically nothing happenedin the realm of environment unless Iran’s joining theUnited Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Aftera one-year time lag (1988), the First Five-Year Economic,Social, and Cultural Development Plan of Iran (1989-1993) was presented in which only one note wasconsidered for the environmental restoration (ICA,1989). Throughout these years, Iran became a statemember of Vienna (1987) and Basel (1989) conventions.In 1992, Rio Conference was held under the title“United Nations Conference on Environment andDevelopment (UNCED)”.The conference achievementscan be summarized as The Rio Declaration onEnvironment and Development; often shortened to RioDeclaration and an International Action Plan (Agenda21). Among the significant impacts of the conferenceon the world can be pointed to holding importantconventions and protocols such as Convention onBiological Diversity (CBD), and United NationsFramework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).Iran joined these conventions after a four-year delay.At the same time, the country was a member of theUnited Nations Convention to Combat Desertification(UNCCD). Before Iran’s Third Cultural and Socio-Economic Development Plan in 1999, the NationalCommitment to Environmental Protection (NCEP) wasestablished by a group of experts, planners andpolicymakers which played a key rolein futuremovement towards sustainable development in Iran.The program was compiled in cooperation with otherrelevant agencies with the aim of motivating to solveenvironmental issues and achieving sustainabledevelopment objectives. A schema of the real status ofnatural resources including forests, grasslands,deserts, as well as air, soil and water pollution was alsopresented in the program. Finally, some practicalstrategies were offered to mitigate the adverse impacts.All the mentioned items provided the context forgreater attention to environmental issues in the ThirdDevelopment Plan (1999-2004) so that one completechapter was assigned to the environmental issues inThe Third Economic, Social and Cultural DevelopmentPlan Act. In addition to the previous concerns, publicparticipation issues, environmental crimes,environmental impact assessment of major projects andair pollution in metropolitan cities were considered inthe program for the first time. In these years, Iran joined

“International Convention for the Prevention ofPollution from Ships” (MARPOL, 1973), and also“Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed ConsentProcedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals andPesticides in International Trade” (PIC Convention,2001). In this regard, the World Summit on SustainableDevelopment was held in Johannesburg, South Africain 2002. The achievements of the summit were reflectedas consideration of sustainable developmentperspective in the development plans of Iran.

The attention to environment and sustainabledevelopment reached its peak in the FourthDevelopment Plan of Iran (2005-2009), so that onesection was devoted to the environmental issues. Inaddition to the topics raised in the Third DevelopmentPlan, some legal materials in the fields of environmentaltraining, prevention of pollution and degradation ofcoastal areas, establishment of national environmentfund, monitoring of pollution sources, ecosystemmanagement and economic valuation of resources werealso mentioned in the Fourth Development Plan of Iran.In 2005, Iran joined the “Stockholm Convention onPersistent Organic Pollutants”, “the FrameworkConvention for the Protection of the MarineEnvironment of the Caspian Sea” as well as the “KyotoProtocol”. Iran also joined “The Convention on theConservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals”,also known as CMS or Bonn Convention in 2007.

The Legal materials mentioned in the FifthDevelopment Plan of Iran (2011-2015) include publiceducation and environmental notification at nationaland regional levels, prevention of illegal hunting,economic valuation of resources, integrated ecosystemmanagement, implementation of biodiversity actionplan, environmental assessment of projects, reductionof air pollution, volume reduction of wastes enteringlandfills, identification and control of dust distributioncenters , control and reduction of greenhouse gasemissions, prohibition of mineral and industrialexploitation of local wetlands and integratedmanagement of wetlands. Table 1 gives the venue anddate of international conferences on environment.Theenvironmental conventions and protocols, along withtheir approval year in Iran are also shown in Table 1.Table 2 shows the venue and date of environmentalconvections and protocols as well as the intervalpassed in Iran. It is worth noting that the content ofthe second and third columns are taken from Table 1.

Iran’s planning process can generally be dividedinto three periods of time, each in turn, is describedin the followings:The first period (prior to 1979): before the IslamicRevolution, despite the structural changes in Iran’s

564

Long-term Planning of Natural Resources

Tabl

e 1. T

he ve

nue a

nd d

ate o

f the

impo

rtan

t env

iron

men

tal c

onve

ctio

ns an

d pr

otoc

ols

Yea

r of

inte

rnat

iona

l app

rova

l Ap

prov

al y

ear b

y th

e pa

rliam

ent o

f the

Isla

mic

revo

lutio

n of

Iran

T

itle

Ven

ue

AD

So

lar

Calen

dar

AD

So

lar C

alen

dar

Inter

natio

nal U

nion

for C

onser

vatio

n of

Natu

re a

nd N

atur

al R

esou

rces

(IU

CN)

Gla

nd, S

witz

erla

nd

1948

13

27

1974

13

52

Inte

rnati

onal

Conv

entio

n re

latin

g to

inte

rven

tion

on th

e hig

h se

as in

cas

es o

f oil

pollu

tion

casu

alties

Br

usse

ls

1969

13

48

1997

13

75

Conv

entio

n on

Wetl

ands

of I

nter

natio

nal I

mpo

rtanc

e es

peci

ally

as W

ater

fow

l H

abita

t Ra

msa

r 19

71

1350

19

74

1352

The

Uni

ted N

ation

s Con

fere

nce

on th

e Hu

man

Env

ironm

ent

Stoc

khol

m, S

wede

n 19

72

1351

U

nite

d N

ation

s Env

ironm

ent P

rogr

amm

e U

nite

d na

tion

1972

13

51

1984

13

62

Conv

entio

n on

the P

reve

ntio

n of M

arine

Pol

lutio

n by

Dum

ping

of W

astes

and

Othe

r Mat

ter

Lond

on

1972

13

51

1997

13

75

Conv

entio

n C

once

rnin

g th

e Pr

otec

tion

of th

e Wor

ld C

ultur

al a

nd N

atura

l He

ritag

e U

NES

CO

1972

13

51

1975

13

53

Inte

rnat

iona

l Con

vent

ion

for t

he Pr

even

tion

of P

ollu

tion

from

Shi

ps

(MA

RPO

L)

MAR

POL

78/

1973

13

51

2002

13

80

Con

vent

ion

on In

tern

atio

nal T

rade

in E

ndan

gere

d. S

peci

es o

f Wild

Fau

na an

d Fl

ora

(CIT

ES)

Was

hingt

on

1973

13

52

1976

13

55

Kuw

ait R

egio

nal C

onve

ntio

n for

Co-

oper

atio

n on

the

Prot

ectio

n of

the M

arin

e En

viron

men

t from

Pol

lutio

n K

uwai

t 19

78

1357

19

80

1358

Con

vent

ion

on th

e Co

nser

vatio

n of

Mig

rato

ry S

peci

es o

f Wild

Ani

mal

s Bo

nn, G

erm

any

1979

13

58

2007

13

86

Vien

na C

onve

ntio

n for

the

Prot

ectio

n of

the O

zone

Lay

er

Vien

na

1987

13

66

1989

13

68

Bas

el C

onve

ntio

n on

the

Cont

rol o

f Tra

nsbo

unda

ry M

ovem

ents

of H

azar

dous

W

aste

s and

The

ir D

ispo

sal

Base

l - S

witz

erla

nd

1989

13

68

1992

13

71

Inte

rnati

onal

Conv

entio

n on

Sal

vage

Lo

ndon

19

89

1368

19

94

1373

In

tern

atio

nal C

onve

ntio

n on

Oil

Pollu

tion

Prep

ared

ness

Res

pons

e and

C

oope

ratio

n Lo

ndon

19

90

1369

19

97

1376

The

Uni

ted N

atio

ns C

onfe

renc

e on

Env

ironm

ent a

nd D

evelo

pmen

t (U

NCE

D)

Rio

de J

anei

ro

1992

13

71

Uni

ted

Nati

ons F

ram

ewor

k Co

nven

tion

on C

limate

Cha

nge (

UN

FCC

C)

New

Yor

k 19

92

1371

19

96

1375

Co

nven

tion

on B

iolo

gica

l Div

ersi

ty (C

BD)

Rio

de J

anei

ro

1992

13

71

1996

13

75

Uni

ted N

atio

ns C

onve

ntio

n to

Com

bat D

eser

tific

ation

(UN

CCD)

Pa

ris

1994

13

73

1996

13

75

Kyo

to P

roto

col t

o the

Uni

ted

Natio

ns F

ram

ewor

k Co

nven

tion

on C

limat

e C

hang

e K

yoto

19

98

1376

20

05

1384

Car

tage

na P

roto

col o

n Bi

osaf

ety

Nai

robi

20

00

1379

20

03

1382

Sto

ckho

lm C

onve

ntio

n on

Pers

isten

t Org

anic

Pol

luta

nts

Stoc

khol

m

2001

13

80

2005

13

84

Rotte

rdam

Con

vent

ion

on th

e Prio

r Inf

orm

ed C

onse

nt P

roce

dure

for C

erta

in

Haz

ardo

us C

hem

icals

and

Pest

icid

es in

Inte

rnat

iona

l Trad

e R

otter

dam

20

01

1380

20

03

1382

Fram

ewor

k Co

nven

tion

for t

he P

rotec

tion

of M

arin

e En

viro

nmen

t of t

he

Casp

ian

Sea

Tehr

an

2003

13

82

2005

13

84

Conf

eren

ce

Joha

nnes

burg

20

02

1381

 

565

Int. J. Environ. Res., 7(3):561-568, Summer 2013

Tabl

e 2. T

he v

enue

and

dat

e of t

he en

viro

nmen

tal c

onve

ctio

ns a

nd p

roto

cols

as w

ell a

s the

inte

rval

pas

sed

in Ir

anIs

lam

ic R

epub

lic o

f Ira

n W

orld

Fi

ve-y

ear p

lans

ap

prov

ed in

Iran

La

ws

Mem

bersh

ip in

con

vent

ions

an

d Pr

otoc

ols

Ratif

icatio

n of

con

vent

ions

an

d pr

otoc

ols

Con

fere

nces

H

ijri

Sham

si

1

1348

nc

reas

ed p

enal

ty fo

r sm

uggl

ing

wea

pons

and

amm

uniti

on b

y ar

med

smug

gle

2

13

50

Esta

blish

men

t Act

of I

ran'

s Sup

rem

e Co

unci

l of A

rchi

tect

ure

and

Urba

n D

evel

opm

ent

2 3,

4 an

d 5

Stoc

khol

m a

nd

foun

datio

n of

UNE

P 13

51

Law

of E

nviro

nmen

tal P

rote

ctio

n an

d Im

prov

emen

t

1353

Pr

otec

tion

act o

f bor

der m

arin

e and

rive

rs o

f con

tam

inati

on w

ith o

il m

ater

ials

Law

of p

rotec

tion

of a

nd ex

ploi

tatio

n of

fore

sts a

nd ra

ngel

ands

1354

The f

iftie

th p

rinci

ple

of th

e con

stitu

tion

13

58

Mai

ntai

n an

d st

abili

ze th

e sid

es o

f the

bor

der r

iver

1362

No approved five-year plan

Law

on

way

to p

reve

nt ai

r pol

lutio

n- es

tabl

ishm

ent A

ct of

rura

l wat

er

com

pani

es -

Prot

ectio

n an

d ex

ploi

tatio

n A

ct o

f aqu

atic

reso

urce

s in

the

Isla

mic

Rep

ublic

of I

ran

- pre

serv

atio

n A

ct o

f lan

d us

e an

d ga

rden

s

9

1366

Law

of P

rote

ctio

n ag

ainst

radi

atio

n 9

10 a

nd 1

1

1368

Fo

rmat

ion

of w

ater a

nd se

wer

age

com

pani

es

12

1369

Th

e leg

al p

lan

of “

Way

s to

prev

ent a

ir po

llutio

n in

Agr

icul

tura

l Co

mm

issio

n of

the p

arlia

men

t whi

ch w

as ra

ised

for t

he fi

rst t

ime

13

70

Pres

erva

tion

and

prot

ectio

n ac

t of n

atura

l res

ourc

es o

f for

est r

eser

ves

10

13 a

nd 1

4 R

io C

onfe

renc

e 13

71

First Five-Year Plan

(with one note)

form

atio

n of

Nat

iona

l Com

mis

sion

for S

usta

inab

le D

evelo

pmen

t

1372

Road

and

Rai

l Saf

ety Im

prov

emen

t Act

11

15

and

16

13

73

The a

ct o

f “w

ays t

o pr

even

t air

pollu

tion”

- Law

of F

orm

atio

n of

rura

l wa

ter c

ompa

nies

-Law

of P

rotec

tion

and

expl

oita

tion

of a

quat

ic re

sour

ces

in th

e Isla

mic

Rep

ublic

of I

ran

- Law

of p

rese

rvat

ion

of la

nd u

se a

nd

gard

ens

13

74

Bio

safe

ty L

aw -

Com

mitt

ee o

n Bi

olog

ical D

iver

sity

, Bio

safe

ty P

roto

col,

the s

ubje

ct o

f Cla

use

A, 1

8th a

gend

a of C

ounc

il of

Env

ironm

enta

l Pr

otec

tion

1, 3

, 13,

14

and

15

1375

Was

te M

anag

emen

t - E

xecu

tive P

roce

dure

of A

rticle

2 N

ote

82, t

he

Seco

nd F

ive-

Year

Plan

77/7

/22

12

1376

1377

Second Five-Year Plan (with three notes)

1378

17

1379

18

and

19

13

80

Jo

hann

esbu

rg

1381

5, 1

7 an

d 19

20

1382

Third

Fiv

e-Y

ear

Plan

(with

two

dire

ct a

rticle

s and

7

artic

les r

elate

d to

envi

ronm

ent)

Was

te M

anag

emen

t

1383

16, 1

8 an

d 20

13

84

1385

8

13

86

1387

Four

th F

ive-

Yea

r Pla

nwi

th 1

6 le

gal A

rticl

esin

Env

ironm

ent

Cha

pter

and

16

envi

ronm

enta

l Ar

ticle

s in

othe

r ch

apte

rs)

Bios

afet

y La

w

13

88

13

89

 

566

Javaherian, Z. et al.

environmental infrastructures such as establishmentof DOE and Supreme Council for Environment (SCE),out of six convections approved within the years 1969to 1973, Iran only joined three conventions includingRamsar Convention (1971), the World HeritageConvention (1972) and CITES (1973) which all of themhad a concept of natural environment. At that time,Iran became a member of the International Union forConservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN)).The First Five-year Plan of Iran only focused on thenatural environment topics including forest restorationand preservation.

The second period: After the Islamic Revolution in Iranuntil 1996, in line with the objectives of the StockholmConference and United Nations EnvironmentProgramme (UNEP), the fiftieth principle of Iran’s post-revolution constitutional law was allocated toenvironmental issues. The principle was based on anew approach in environmental planning by whichenvironmental conservation should be considered asa public duty. Accordingly, economic activities causingenvironmental pollution or uncompensated destructionmust be forbidden.

After the Rio Conference (1992) and otherimportant conventions and protocols such asConvention on Biological Diversity (CBD),environmental considerations found a special place inIran’s long-term planning and the country joined theconventions with a time interval less than 4 years. Inthis period, Iran was more influenced by globalenvironmental evolutions and it also paid a specialattention to the international conventions andprotocols.

The third period: After 1997, environmental planningprocess was altered a lot due to the managerial changeof the DOE. In 1999, one chapter of the ThirdDevelopment Law was dedicated to environmentalissues for the first time. In addition to the conservationof natural resources and biodiversity, other topics suchas pollution prevention, public participation, andenvironmental assessment of large projects were alsoaddressed in the plan. Moreover, UNFCCC secretariatwas launched at the DOE. This illustrates that themanagement approach played a great role in drawingthe attention of the government to the environmentalissues in Iran within the third period.

Following the active participation of Iran inJohannesburg Conference (2002), the countryaccepted five other memberships in conventions andprotocols throughout an 8-year managerial period.Subsequently, the Secretariat of the Cartagena Protocolon Biosafety was launched at the DOE. Accordingly,the importance of environmental issues and sustainable

development reached its peak in the FourthDevelopment Plan (2005-2009). Therefore, one out ofthe six sections was completely allocated to theenvironmental issues. It should be mentioned thataround twenty percent of the Fourth DevelopmentProgram Law focuses on environment and sustainabledevelopment.

In addition to the legal materials raised in the FourthDevelopment Plan, identification and control of dustemission centers, control of greenhouse gas emissions,prohibition of mineral and industrial exploitation of localwetland and integrated management of wetlands werealso addressed in the Fifth Development Plan (2011-2015).

CONCLUSIONEnvironmental planning in Iran can be divided into

three periods; before the Islamic Revolution (withparticular attention to the natural environment), theperiod after the Islamic Revolution till 1996 (in thisperiod Iran was more influenced by globalenvironmental changes so that it paid a specialattention to international conventions and protocols)and the period after 1997, management role and itseffectiveness in the government has resulted ingrowing attention to the environment in developmentprograms. Accordingly, a great progress has beenobtained in environmental program of Iran. Byreviewing the planning achievements at macro level inIran, it is concluded that managerial attitude have hada great role in environmental developments in thecountry. As the results suggest, the ratification of theconventions and protocols has been accelerated inIran since after the Islamic revolution. During 1948-1994, the average time of holding the internationalconventions until its approval in Iran was eleven years,while, from 1995-2007, it was reduced to 4 years.Generally, the attention of the government and theparliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran to theenvironmental issues accelerate the approval durationof conventions and protocols. Clearly, there has alwaysbeen a direct but delayed relationship between theglobal environmental evolutions and the decision-making policies in Iran. Generally, the impressibility isassessed positive.

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