Iran's Natural Heritage: A Catalyst Symposium to Spark Measurable Change
About This Project
In partnership with Iran Heritage Foundation (IHF), the Persian Wildlife Foundation (PWF) and in association with the London Middle East Institute (SOAS), the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), I.B.Tauris Publishers and the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF), the Soudavar Memorial Foundation sponsored and coordinated a pioneering international symposium on the challenges facing Iran’s natural heritage in London on the 18th and 19th of January 2014. The purpose of the Symposium was to bring public attention to this matter and suggest measures which could spark a measurable positive change. Together with an annual symposium, the Soudavar Memorial Foundation is delighted to announce that it will sponsor a series of environmental seminars at the London Middle East Institute at SOAS, University of London.
The first day of the conference, open to the public at large, was held at the Royal Geographic Society and opened with messages from the convenors’ representatives, Dr John Curtis (IHF), Fatemeh Soudavar (SMF) and Morad Tahbaz (PWF). Eskandar Firouz, the founder of Iran’s Department of Environment (DoE) in the 1960’s, delivered an inspiring video recorded message and observed that the renewed interest in Iran’s environment is a beacon of hope for future generations. The opening remarks were followed by a keynote speech by Gary Lewis, the UN Resident Coordinator for Iran and expert presentations by Dr Kaveh Madani, Dr Vahid Hosseini, Dr Taghi Farvar, Dr Stephane Ostrowski and Mrs Laleh Daraie, all active or resident in Iran.
The second day’s working sessions were held at the headquarters of the IHF at Asia House for the purposes of discussing specific measures to address challenges in respect to water and agriculture, air and pollution, forests and woodland, wildlife and habitat and community development. The symposium concluded with a message that sparking measurable change would require as a first step awareness at the national and international level of the extent and severity of the crisis and international collaboration amongst experts.
