For the first time a group of Iranian conscripted soldiers has been trained to serve as environmental rangers and dispersed to various provinces to protect the environment.
The Department of the Environment reported that the military has chosen 140 soldiers this year to be trained to carry out environmental duties.
The first group of 51 have been trained and dispatched to several provinces including Khuzestan, Ilam, Kurdistan, Zanjan, Fars, Tehran and Alborz.
The soldiers will be deployed in protected areas to guard against poaching, forest and field destruction, the pollution of mountains and coasts and the destruction of vegetation.
The department has said that optimum protection can only be achieved with a force of 10,000 forest and environmental rangers. Today only 3,000 rangers are employed by the department.