Tehran, IRNA – Vice President and Head of Iran’s Department of Environment Sheena Ansari has called for safeguarding the environment amid ongoing wars across the globe as part of efforts to ensure lasting peace, arguing that conflicts are destroying nature and its ability to regenerate.
The Iranian official was unable to attend the seminar in person as she was in northern Iran, where wildfires have been raging in the city of Chalus over the past week.
“We must deeply understand that the future of peace and the future of humanity depend on the future of the environment. If nature is destroyed, sustainable peace will not endure. Our responsibility—as policymakers, researchers, and specialists—is to ensure that the environment, this invaluable and irreplaceable asset, does not remain the silent victim of wars,” she said.
The following is the full text of Ansari’s speech:
In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
Distinguished professors, esteemed researchers, representatives of international organizations, dear students, ladies and gentlemen;
It is an honor to be present at the International Seminar on the Shadow of War on People and Nature in the Region, held on the occasion of the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. This gathering is not only a forum of thought and expertise, but also a reminder of our historic responsibility toward the Earth, humanity, and the future.
War does not merely change political maps; it dries ecological roots, destroys trees and rivers, and reduces nature’s capacity for regeneration. While buildings and bridges may be rebuilt, restoring a dried wetland or a burned forest can take decades—and in some cases, may be impossible.
Today, climate change, water scarcity, and biodiversity loss are already serious threats. Adding the shadow of war to these crises gravely affects the future of generations to come. Nature is the silent victim of wars: it has no means of negotiation, no tools of defense. In modern conflicts, the environment is deliberately turned into a battlefield, and even into a weapon of war.
Ladies and gentlemen;
In recent years, the military aggressions of the Zionist regime in Gaza have not only caused unprecedented human tragedies, but also created widespread environmental crises. The water and soil resources of millions of Palestinians have been contaminated, and the region’s ecosystem has been severely damaged.
Likewise, during the recent imposed war, parts of the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran—including protected areas and natural resources—were directly and indirectly affected by attacks. Approximately 20,000 hectares of forests and rangelands were burned, releasing more than 244,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This is only one dimension of the extensive environmental losses inflicted upon our country.
The Environmental Protection Organization’s programs to confront such conditions include:
• protection of water resources and prevention of toxic leaks,
• establishment of mechanisms for environmental crisis management,
• ecological restoration,
• and scientific and legal documentation of war damages.
These measures can highlight the role of the environment in national and regional discourse, and elevate the Organization from a purely supervisory body to a security–environmental actor.
Honorable professors;
We must deeply understand that the future of peace and the future of humanity depend on the future of the environment. If nature is destroyed, sustainable peace will not endure. Our responsibility—as policymakers, researchers, and specialists—is to ensure that the environment, this invaluable and irreplaceable asset, does not remain the silent victim of wars.
Peace is not merely the absence of war; peace is the presence of a healthy environment, a healthy society, and healthy human beings.
Thank you.
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