Some 62,000 Hectares of Forests Destroyed Annually

SHIRAZ, Fars Province, Iran, June 1999 (IRNA) -- Some 62,000 hectares of forest lands are being destroyed every year due to different factors, head of the country's Forest and Range Organization Hamid Kalantari said here Tuesday. Speaking at the economy council of fars province, Kalantari said forest rehabilitation rate stands at 30,000 hectares annually. There are 12.4 million hectares of forest lands across the country. Kalantari blamed different traditiona land legal bottlenecks, insufficient investment by private sector as main causes for ignoring the importance of forests. Protection, rehabilitation, development and exploitation are among other pivotal policies of the country's forests and range organization, he said. He added the country's total range lands stands at 90 million hectares which are being used by 70 million livestock.