For over a week, extensive areas of the Zagros forests in Eastern Kurdistan (Iran) have been engulfed in flames. Despite minimal support and apparent indifference from governmental institutions in combating the widespread fires, environmental defenders have taken voluntary action, utilising limited resources to protect the environment.
Large sections of the forests in Kordestan, Kermashan, and Ilam provinces have been engulfed in flames for over eight days. The widespread nature of the fires, the lack of cooperation from government agencies, limited resources for environmental defenders and local residents, and the possibility of intentional arson have all made controlling the fires extremely challenging.
Local sources report that nearly 200 hectares of forest around the cities of Kermashan, Jivanro, Pave, Marivan, and Dehloran, alongside the Dalaho region have been burned, causing serious damage to animal and plant habitats. Additionally, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network has published footage of the widespread fires, suggesting they were deliberately set by the Islamic Republic.
According to local sources in Eastern Kurdistan, as soon as the fire is controlled in one part of the forest, a new fire breaks out in another. These sources also strongly emphasise the possibility that the fires are intentional.
To address the critical condition of widespread fires in Eastern Kurdistan, the Green Chia Association in Marivan issued urgent calls for action. The NGO expressed concern about the fires and the potential for intentional arson, while also commending the people of Kurdistan for their efforts to extinguish the flames.
The Ecology Committee of the Free and Democratic Society of East Kurdistan (Kodar) also drew attention to these fires, emphasising the need for a comprehensive civil campaign to prevent the destruction of the forests.
Since the early 2000s, continuous fires have plagued the forests of Rojhelat-Zagros, particularly in the border areas between Eastern and Southern Kurdistan, in the provinces of Kordestan and West Azerbaijan, with their frequency increasing over time.
Reports from local sources in Eastern Kurdistan suggest that natural factors cannot explain any of these fires, particularly in the Marivan, Baneh, and Shaho forests. Environmental activists believe that agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran are deliberately setting fires in the forests to destroy the hideouts of Kurdish fighters who are in the area.
According to these sources, since 2020, at least 188 fires have occurred in the forests surrounding the cities of Marivan and Sarvabad. This number increased more than thirteenfold in 2021 compared to the previous year.
As the frequency of these fires has increased, environmental activists in Eastern Kurdistan have consistently faced threats, arrests by Islamic government authorities, and suspicious deaths. Among notable incidents are the killings of Sharif Bajaur, founder of the Green Chia Association in Marivan, and Omid Kohanposhi in September 2018, while they were engaged in firefighting efforts around Marivan forests.
