PART I: SUMMARY

1. PROPOSED NAME OF THE BIOSPHERE RESERVE:

[It is advisable to use a locally accepted geographic, descriptive or symbolic name which allows people to identify themselves with the site concerned (e.g. Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve, Bookmark Biosphere Reserve). Except in unusual circumstances, Biosphere Reserves should not be named after existing national parks or similar administrative areas]

DenaBiosphere Reserve

2. COUNTRY:

I.R. Iran

3. FULFILLMENT OF THE THREE FUNCTIONS OF BIOSPHERE RESERVES

(Article 3 of the Statutory Framework presents the three functions of conservation, development and logistic support. Explain in general terms how the area fulfills these functions.)

Introduction and the overall objectives of the Dena Biosphere Reserve nomination:

In Iran the Biosphere Reserve concept has proved its value beyond Protected Areas and is increasingly embraced by scientists, planners, policy makers and local communities to bring a variety of knowledge, scientific investigations and experiences to link biodiversity conservation and socio-economic development for human well-being. In particular, Iran is interested to adopt key guidelines and methodologies articulated by UNESCO Seville Strategy of 1995 and the Madrid Action Plan of 2008, as well as Ecosystem Approach to develop a new model of conservation and sustainable development.

The proposed Dena Biosphere Reserve is located in the Central Zagros mountains of Iran, which contains globally significant ecosystem, species and genetic biodiversity. The area is characterized by extreme topographical relief and climatic conditions, which have led to great diversity in ecosystems and habitats over small geographical areas. It homes a vast range of higher plant species and several endangered and endemic mammal species. Notably, the mountains also contain a large number of plant and animal species of commercial importance to man. This is one of the reasons why some of the earliest civilizations originated in this area according to archeological studies. In recent decades, due to demographic changes and the transformation of economic and social systems, and the loss of traditional management and land-use practices, the biodiversity has been seen declining.

The proposed Dena Biosphere Reserve aims to reverse such trend, by connecting the conservation of the biodiversity contained in the area with local socio-economic and cultural development agenda, especially for the rural and nomad communities. To this end, the leading agency in charge of conservation, the Department of Environment of Iran and its provincial offices has started working with local communities and with the agriculture, forestry, rangelands, water and tourism sectors. A major effort is through the on-going GEF project ‘Conservation of Biodiversity in the Central Zagros Landscape Conservation Zone’ which targets to ‘mainstreaming biodiversity conservation in production sectors and landscapes’.

If successful, the Dena Biosphere Reserve will become an example of new platforms to pursue for sustainable development in areas containing protected areas in Iran, and serve as learning site for policy makers, scientists, managers and stakeholders to work together to implement global principles of sustainable development into locally relevant practical actions.

3.1 "Conservation - contribute to the conservation of landscapes, ecosystems, species and genetic variation" (Stress the importance of the site for conservation at the regional or global scales)

The Central Zagros mountains and landscapes/ecosystems

Iran’s interior plateaus are almost completely surrounded by mountains. The main mountain system, the Zagros Mountains, cuts across the country from close to the north-western border with Turkey, parallel to the border with Iraq down to the Persian gulf for 1500 km from northwest to southeast with 400km wide at its widest. With the exception of the Khūzestān coastal plain, which extends from the northern reaches of the Persian Gulf and OmanSea, the Zagros Mountains with an area of 400,000 km2 or one quarter of Iran occupy all of western Iran. The Zagros Mountains generally divide the Mediterranean climatic zone (to the west of the mountains) from the arid-West Asian zone.

The name Zagros is derived from the Zagarthians/Sagarthians-and Indo-European, Iranic immigrants from Europe who once inhabited the mountains, from the shores of Lake Van to the coasts of Makran. The Zangana and Chigini tribes of the Kurds are the remnants of these ancient Sagarthians. The ancient names of Zagros mountains were Patagh, Kohestan (Jebal in Arabic) and Pahleh.

Dena is a mountain range within the Zagros Mountains of West/Southwestern Iran. It has a peak of 4448m. Dena is situated on the boundary of the Isfahan, Kohkilooyeh Va Boyer Ahmad, and Chahar Mahal Va Bakhtiyari provinces. There are tremendous climate differences in the Zagros, depending in large part on elevation. In the central range, where the proposed Dena Biosphere Reserve is located, weather varies from some -25 C in winter on the mountaintops to winds from the southwest that scorch the lower elevations in summertime. Annual rainfall varies from some 300mm in the lower elevations to almost 800mm on the crest, falling mostly in winter and spring.Snow is common throughout the ranges in winter and some higher peaks remain snow-covered throughout the year. The range's rugged topography and high altitudes have made it virtually impassable, especially during winter months when heavy snows fall across the region.

The forest and steppe forest areas of the ZagrosMountain range have a semi-arid temperate climate. Oak species dominate the Zagros highlands, while pistachio and almond are common at lower elevations. Hackberry, walnut, and pear trees are scattered throughout this ecoregion as well. Many large rivers, including the Karun, Dez, and Kharkeh, originate from the Central Zagros, draining into the Persian Gulf or the Caspian Sea. Scenic waterfalls, pools, and lakes add beauty to the mountainous landscape.

Biodiversity in Dena

The presence of at least 1200 plant species with 50 endemic species gives a strong conservation value of the site for biodiversity. The diversity of plants are of 90 plant families which corresponds to 60% of total plant families in Iran; 430 plant genus from total of 1215 plant genus which corresponds to 35% in Iran; 1201 plant species from total 7502 plant species which corresponds to 16% in Iran and 50 endemic plant species which corresponds to 17% of total endemic plant species in Iran. There are also 128 medicinal plant species, 110 wild plant species, 84 species of plant which contain chromogen compound and 61 edible plant species which reveals the medicinal, edible, and conservation values of plant species in Dena.

A variety of animal life, such as brown bear (Ursus arctos), eagles (Aquila spp.), wolves (Canis lupus), various wild cats including caracals, lynxes and leopards (Panthera pardus), wild goat (Capra aegrarus) and many other species have long made their homes in the Zagros Mountains. The highly endangered Persian fallow deer, extinct from Central Zagros, has recently re-introduced to the area. Five taxa of lizards are endemic to the Zagros range. The rare Caspian snow cock, a pale bird with distinctive white markings, is a prized sight for bird watchers. This ground-nesting bird inhabits highland areas with steep rocky slopes that contain meadows and bushes.

Cultural diversity of Dena

Archeologists estimate that the Zagros Mountains also served as one of the world's earliest cultural hearths for both plant and livestock domestication some 10,000 years ago. The area, until as recently as the middle of the last century, the vast majority of people in the Conservation Zone lived a nomadic lifestyle. Starting in the early 1960s, government development programmes focused on facilitating the settlement of the nomads, and large numbers of nomads settled down in the subsequent decades. In recent years, the government has adopted a more flexible and responsive approach to supporting nomads. Government programmes now focus equally on supporting existing nomadic lifestyles or facilitating sedentarisation, although the emphasis varies across the three provinces concerning Dena. The three most important nomadic tribes using the conservation zone in are the Qashqai, Jarghoye and Bakhtiari.

The cultural diversity of the local communities, including nomads communities are manifested by their languages, traditional production activities including herding and hunting, food products, dresses, festivals, dances and weaving and other handicraft making skills. There knowledge about seasonal and long routes of migration for their livestock represent another dimension of cultural diversity value.

Because of the presence of pastoral nomads and their impacts to the environment, Dena is considered as one of the most critical ecological areas in the Zagros mountainous region.

Threats to biodiversity conservation

There are two main direct threats to biodiversity in the Conservation Zone: unsustainable agriculture and over-harvesting of biodiversity products. These are acting alone and in combination to lead to a drastic degradation of biodiversity. The resulting fragmentation of habitats makes it increasingly difficult for large mammals to find a sufficiently large contiguous habitat. In addition, there are many smaller and localised direct threats.

Conservation measures and activities

The conservation activities performed by provincial office of the Department of Environment (DOE) in Dena are as follows:

  • Performing environmental training activities at the local level for stakeholders and local communities;
  • Performing environmental training workshops for women teachers in Dena;
  • Producing posters and brochures for introduction of Dena protected area and its biological diversity at the local, provincial and national level;
  • Distributing the environmental slogans yearly on the national day of “friendship with nature” for public awareness;
  • Conducting Gene Bank training courses for environmental guards and experts;
  • Conserving natural and scenic areas of national and international significance for cultural, spiritual and scientific purposes;
  • Conserving cultural and spiritual values associated with nature;
  • Developing public support for protection; and,
  • Conserving significant landscape features, geomorphology and geology

3.2 "Development: foster economic and human development, which is socio-culturally and ecologically sustainable". (Indicate the potential of the proposed biosphere reserve in fulfilling this objective)

Local communities

Population of local communities in the southern part of Dena is counted as 23127 people and in the northern part 9655 people, which in total comes to 26149 residing in the proposed buffer and transition zones of Dena Biosphere Reserve.

Among local communities, two types of resident can be identified in the villages of Central Zagros, including those in Dena area: natural resource managers from indigenous communities, who have had a long association with the land they use, and are willing to invest in its maintenance; and new-comers or displaced populations, whose association with their land is relatively new and weak, and hence they seem to be more willing to sacrifice the quality of their land assets for short-term financial gains.

In general most villagers and nomads expressed a desire to lead a more modern lifestyle. This is consistent with the observed out-migration from rural areas to urban areas and cities, especially of the younger people. It is however not always easy to distinguish between settled villagers and nomads. Land-use and livelihoods are very complex.

Natural resource uses and relations of locals to conservation

Most of the resources collected from the forests and rangelands are consumed in the households and are not exchanged in the marketplace; Some products gathered in the forest are collected by an intermediary and transported to industrial processing facilities; demonstrating the potential benefits of biodiversity resources;

The current Protected Area setting has had a significant impact on resource use and attitudes. Resource use has declined greatly in the core protected areas, but this is not generally appreciated by the local people, who are not fully informed and feel unlikely to benefit from the conservation improvements. This is a source of both confusion and tension. Local people are often unsure of the geographical borders of the Protected Area, while land conversion and unsustainable harvesting of biodiversity products putting pressure to the ecosystems.

Dena Biosphere Reserve as an opportunity

The proposed Dena Biosphere Reserve will therefore take as a primary means to build the local constituency for conserving biological diversity in the landscape, as part of the development agenda for promotion of sustainable development and associated cultural values. It will seek concrete solutions to reconcile biodiversity conservation with sustainable use of natural resources and for the benefit of local people, based on common accepted approaches. In this vein, in Dena, the complex biological, ecological, legal, financial, social and managerial systems must be successfully integrated. It is noted that such effort has been started in the broader areas of Central Zagros, by the GEF Project mentioned above.

A particular attention will be paid to cultural sensitivity in Dena, to the participation and benefits for local communities, tailoring scientific research to resolve natural resource use problems, fostering dialogue amongst different stakeholders, biodiversity education and awareness raising, conflict resolution with nomads and training of authorities. Preference is for the building up of local and national capacity for sustainable land management and development. Given the great natural beauty of DenaMountain and its attraction to natural and ecological tourists in different seasons, local based ecotourism will be taken as another means of support to the locals.

The proposed Dena Biosphere Reserve will have following functional capacity for promoting the sustainable development of its eco-region:

  • Providing a tool for wider bioregional and eco-regional conservation planning exercises;
  • Conserving the composition, structure, function and evolutionary potential of regional biodiversity;
  • Contributing to regional conservation strategy;
  • Maintaining the diversity of landscape with associated species and ecosystems;
  • Delivering benefits to resident and local communities consistent with the other objectives of management;
  • Delivering recreational benefits consistent with the other objectives of management;
  • Minimizing disturbances through careful planning and implementation of research; and,
  • Using adaptive management strategies to improve management effectiveness and governance quality over time

3.3 "Logistic support - support for demonstration projects, environmental education and training, research and monitoring related to local, regional, national and global issues of conservation and sustainable development". (Indicate current or planned facilities).

  • Base line studies of the eight pilot villages in the central zagros,
  • Surveys of the biological resources of the Protected Areas of Central Zagros and Tang-Sayyad.
  • Study and design establishment of participation Houses
  • Development of the strategy of alternative livelihoods
  • Holding training courses on some issues including: the principals of agrobidiversity, the concept of mainstreaming biodiversity into the production sectors, the concept of landscape approach
  • Conservation of Biodiversity in the Central Zagros Landscape Conservation Zone Project
  • University and research centers of Isfahan, Kohgiloyeh and Boyerahmad and Chaharmahal ve Bakhtiari

The logistic function in Dena is aimed to promote scientific research, which in some ways must serve as "living laboratories" for testing out and demonstrating integrated ecosystem management approach. Thus an efficient logistic function in Dena would be central to the successful implementation of Biosphere Reserve Concept in the area.

Due to its richness in biological diversity, human history, cultural diversity and development challenges, Dena has been for many years an area for scientific surveys, wildlife studies, research and pilot project development on natural resource management. Most such studies have been carried out by Iranian researchers of national and provincial universities.

The Department of Environment and its Provincial Offices and management stations in the field provide coordination and support for scientific surveys, monitoring and assessments. Local universities, through the departments of biology, ecology, agronomy, economics and anthropology also provide facilities for scientific research and higher education.

Through the Central Zagros GEF project to mainstream biodiversity conservation, a series of socio-economic studies have been carried out, including participatory rural appraisal (PRA) on local development issues and resource management in three villages in Dena, and development of mountain biodiversity education centers for public uses, and opening web sites in both Farsi and English languages. There studies and facilities are accessible to the Proposed Dena Biosphere Reserve.

Through the proposed Dena Biosphere Reserve, Iran aims to enhance research, monitoring and education cooperation related to:

  • Integrating social and economic research through MAB program, due to the importance of the human elements in ensuring the social and economic relevance of research in ecosystem conservation and management, and influencing public policy and building partnerships for promoting compatible economic development;
  • Developing and testing monitoring methodologies appropriate for overall integrated monitoring including socio-economic facts as a key objective in Biosphere Reserve;
  • Improving base-line data collection and management for study of flora and fauna changes – such database should be the user friendly and accessible for research and management bodies, including providing information and data gateways, as well as metadata facility, to standardized protocols for description of Dena Biosphere Reserves characteristics;
  • Emphasizing in training of scientific and technical personnel, to reinforce the communication capacity of Dena Biosphere Reserve and to promote links with national universities and development of regional or sub-regional training institutions;
  • Disseminating information on the various valid solutions being used as multifunctional management structures, particularly with regards to participation of local populations and the commitment of landowners outside the core areas;
  • Identifying ecological priorities, ecosystem processes and ecological modeling;
  • Developing scientific means to measure and verify critical threats and grass roots actions and reactions;
  • Developing partnership and scientific cooperation on ecosystem restoration;
  • Enhancing cooperative links with other UNESCO scientific programs and other international organizations concerned on a selective and mutually beneficial basis, making full use of the potential offered by Biosphere Reserves.

Particular attention to climate change impacts