Presently, Asiatic cheetahs across the country number 60.

Recent reports suggested that Indian scientists plan to clone Iranian cheetah, an animal that has been extinct in that country for more than four decades.
Reacting to the news, managing director of the Department of Environment’s Office for Wildlife and Aquatics, Ayatollahi, ruled out any deals with India in this regard and said, “Asiatic cheetah is believed to be in better conditions now which eliminates the need for any attempts to clone the species. No agreements have been made on that with India.“
Meanwhile, deputy director of the national Conservation of Asiatic Cheetah Project (CACP), Hamdenian, said the situation of the cheetah had not been yet stabilized, adding, “The DoE has in a letter expressed its opposition to India’s proposal for cloning the beast.“
The official noted that based on latest figures released by the World Conservation Union, the number of Asiatic cheetahs living in Iran adds up to 60 at present.
Cheetah, which once existed in different parts of Asia, Middle East and Africa, is the fastest animal on the land, but excessive hunting and environmental factors have pushed the valuable species to the brink of extinction.
Estimates show that some 12,000 to 15,000 cheetahs are left in Africa, but the animal is largely extinct in other countries. Some 1,200 are in captivity across the world.
Reuters reported recently that a team of Indian scientists would soon travel to Iran to collect sperm and tissue samples from a cheetah in a zoo there.
It quoted officials at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology as saying that the Iranian government has agreed to support the project.

World ministers of environment attended a conference last week in Dubai to adopt a charter of world deserts, and study the relation between tourism, culture and environment.
Other objectives of the conference were to work out mechanisms for sustainability in environment, economy, as well as the sociocultural arena.
Addressing the confab, vice president and head of the Department of Environment Masoumeh Ebtekar asserted that sustainable development takes on added importance when the governments and nations realize that their policies and actions have reciprocal impact on each other.
Referring to designation of 2006 as the Year of Deserts and Desertification, she pointed out, “This shows the importance of the issue from a universal perspective.“
Therefore the conference, Ebtekar noted, should echo the significance of adopting a sustainable approach toward desert ecosystems.
Ebtekar asserted that Iran as a member of international community has paid substantial attention to environment preservation.
Noting that six of Iran’s 20 national parks with spectacular tourist attractions are located in desert areas, she stated, “Also five wildlife sanctuaries and six protected zones are in deserts, accounting for more than one third of protected areas nationwide.“

Tehrani children will fly kites made of recycled material and bearing environmental mottos in Pardisan Park on April 22, secretary of the Taskforce for Clean Earth Day Festival said, ISNA reported.
Parvin Maroufi said the goal behind the festival is to inculcate the culture of keeping the Earth clean, recalling April 22 had been designated the Clean Earth Day since four years ago.
This year’s theme is “Enforcement of Waste Management Law, A National Duty“, she noted, adding various programs would be held across the country to commemorate the day.
The Clean Earth Day Festival which kicked off in Tehran’s Pardisan Park on April 18 will last through April 22. It is estimated that 12,000 students would attend the event.
On the sidelines of the festival, the ’Green Cooking’ contest will be held, encouraging women to prepare vegetarian meals which produce the minimum garbage.
She said that Chitgar Park in west of Tehran would be cleaned by women members of Mee’ad Cultural Center, adding kindergarten children in a symbolic move would provide citizens in gas stations with tips for environment preservation.
The Olympic Committee would hold sports competitions on the occasion, Maroufi said, adding Tehran mountains would also be cleaned with the help of non-governmental organizations.
She expressed hope that propagation of proper waste management techniques would increase urban dwellers’ care about the environment.

Golestan National Park has been a protected zone since 40 years ago.

Ministry of Roads and Transportation’s refusal to reroute a transit road already passing through Golestan National Park, has endangered the park’s flora and fauna, ISNA reported.
Director general of Golestan Department of Environment warned that the 50-kilometer road with a traffic load of 16,000 cars per day, has put at stake the park which is home to 24 percent of Iranian plant species.
Some 145 animals were killed after being hit by cars passing through the park during the past year, Mohajer said, adding that carcasses were those of crows, pheasants, pigeons, forest owls, foxes, boars, jackals, forest cats, brown bears, cobras and lizards.
“An international transit route crossing a protected area has no precedent in the world,“ he stated, noting this road poses a tremendous threat to the park’s wildlife.
Following the devastation of the park during 1991-92 floods, the official mentioned, cabinet ministers decided to redirect the road. As per the decision, the Road Ministry was obliged to conduct preliminary studies on construction of a new road that would bypass the park.
Notwithstanding the president’s direct order for rerouting the road, Mohajer complained, the ministry’s officials have turned a deaf ear to such directives, insisting that the North-East Freeway should pass through the park.
The official warned that building a 4-lane freeway in the area would cause the protected zone to lose its designation as a national park.
Located in the northeast end of Caspian forests, the National Park of Golestan has been a protected zone since 40 years ago. It is home to animals like bears, gazelles, bucks, deer, rams, ewes, wolves, cheetahs and goats. The park also shelters rare bird species such as ospreys and eagles.

A flock of sheep grazing near Neor Lake, Ardebil (Photo by Oshin D. Zakarian)

The water level in Orumiyeh Lake has dropped by seven centimeters.

Director general of West Azerbaijan Department of Environment said the water level in Orumiyeh Lake was down seven centimeters on April 9 compared to the corresponding time of last year.
Kiomars Kalantari, in an interview with ISNA, added the figure had dropped to 273.75 cm this year from 273.82 cm in 2004.
He referred to prolonged drought in recent years, evaporation and exploitation of the inflowing water as major reasons behind the decline in the level and volume of the lake’s water.
Kalantari said presently the Orumiyeh Lake has a salinity level of 275 g/l, warning that a poor balance could trigger a sharp rise in the salinity level and do serious harm to local birds and living creatures.
Commenting on the status of Artemia in Orumiyeh Lake national park, the official said, “Artemia cysts are unable to hatch in such saline water. Not being able to survive the conditions, the density of Artemia has fallen drastically.“
Artemia also known as brine shrimp is a primitive type of aquatic crustacean.
Asked about the project to transfer water from Zab River to the Orumiyeh national park, he explained that “the project is still going through feasibility studies. The department welcomes the project and we hope it would be finalized soon.“

One of the ÒTaiping FourÓ infant Western lowland gorillas is seen in an indoor enclosure at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa.

Cameroon called on South Africa to return four young gorillas smuggled to Malaysia and then moved to a South African zoo, Reuters reported.
The fate of the gorillas has infuriated animal rights groups who want them sent back to their natural habitat.
Mary Fosi, a senior official at Cameroon’s Ministry of Environment and Nature Protection, said South Africa had promised to return the gorillas, known as the “Taiping Four“, after the Malaysian zoo where they appeared after being smuggled out of Cameroon in 2002.
“We are waiting now for the South African government to respect its engagement to bring back the gorillas to Cameroon by June 2005,“ Fosi told reporters in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde.
The population of lowland gorillas, numbering several thousand in Cameroon, Central African Republic, the two Congos, Gabon and Nigeria, is rapidly declining because of hunting and logging, trading in pets and the deadly Ebola virus.
Activists say the apes should be returned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which regulates the global trade in threatened wildlife.
The animals were discreetly brought to South Africa’s National Zoo in Pretoria in April 2004 from Malaysia. Cameroon, South African and Malaysia are all party to CITES.
Fosi’s comments came after the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) criticized South Africa’s government for allowing preparations for placing the gorillas on display at the zoo.
“Given that Cameroon specifically asked South Africa for the return of the gorillas on two separate occasions, we feel the current situation shows a serious lack of respect for both CITES and the spirit of African cooperation,“ IFAW said on Thursday.
IFAW also criticized South Africa for failing to convene a technical committee to facilitate the gorillas’ return.
Animal welfare groups want the gorillas sent to the Limbe Wildlife Centre in southwestern Cameroon. Fosi said facilities at the center had already been upgraded for their return.
“The center has successfully put in place a family group of gorillas and the “Taiping Four“ will be integrated into the resident gorilla population,“ she said.

Thailand’s natural beauty has long lured millions of foreign vacationers, but after the tsunami a row is brewing over how best to protect the environment while accommodating surging tourism, AFP reported.
Barely 100 days after giant waves pummeled the resort-cluttered Andaman coastline leaving about 5,400 people dead, the kingdom remains torn between safeguarding mother nature and promoting a multi-billion-dollar industry.
Niphon Phongsuwan, a senior biologist in Phuket at the department of marine and coastal resources, said the tsunami’s sparing of most environmental gems along the coast should not blind tourism development to the need for greater protection.
“We have to accept today that we have developed in the wrong places ... in some places too close to the shoreline,“ Niphon said in Phuket.
Hotels have sprung up “without care for the environment“, often polluting coastal waters with waste and causing sediment erosion, he added. “If we keep doing that the environment will only get worse.“
Niphon said a plan to rehabilitate the region included better land-use control, coastal zone management and sustainable tourism development, but that forces in the tourism industry clashed with conservationists.
And with tourism playing such a vital role, it’s difficult to propose sweeping new regulations without encountering a buzzsaw of political and business opposition.
Since the tsunami, the government has mulled a “buffer zone“ along Thai coastlines barring any new construction within a certain distance, in some places up to 50 meters, from the high-tide line, conservationists said.
Hundreds if not thousands of Thai hotels, restaurants and shops are closer than that to the shoreline.
Wichit Na-Ranong, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand, said the tourism industry would fight tooth and nail against such a zone, arguing it would hamstring much-needed development along the coast.
In the aftermath of the tsunami, researchers and officials conducted rapid impact assessments of damage and concluded that the worst fears of an environmental catastrophe proved unfounded.
Some coral reefs were badly damaged but expected to recover, while a few beaches on Thailand’s tourism jewel Phuket saw broad swathes of sand washed away and will need reconstruction to bring them back to their previous splendor.
But most environmentalists agree that the damage has been limited. The tsunami, ironically, has done some good to Thailand’s exhausted natural resources.
It has driven tourism numbers down along the Andaman coast, giving overexploited beaches, coral reefs, mangrove forests and idyllic islands a much-needed breather from the hoards of holidaymakers.
It has washed clean sand into bays and led to swelling fish populations as thousands of fishing vessels were destroyed or damaged by the waves.
Most importantly, it triggered a massive cleanup operation that has removed tons of trash from coral reefs, sea beds and coastlines.
“It has given us an opportunity to clean up almost everything,“ Thavivongses Sriburi, director of the Environmental Research Institute at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, told AFP.
The aftermath also is an opportunity to flesh out Thailand’s broader policies on the delicate balance between preservation and progress.
However, conservationists said the government had missed the opportunity to improve its environmental standards.
“The government is looking at tourism only,“ Thavivongses said, citing a 100-million-dollar post-tsunami rehabilitation plan approved by cabinet but focusing mainly on reviving the tourism industry.
Thailand does have key conservation legislation in place, notably an environmental act of 1992 and the constitution of 1997 which enshrines the rights of local communities in conserving natural resources.
But the government and the United Nations, in a joint report last year, said the country is facing “severe natural resource depletion and environmental degradation.“