Role of political power in forest administration policy of Iran

The area of natural forest in Iran is approximately 12.4 million hectares, comprising 7.5% of the total area of Iran. Forest management in the country was changed to the legislature after order of the Forest Nationalization Law in 1963. With civilization development, pressure on forests was significantly increased. In the early 20th century a system of development planning began as a series of seven-year cycles, focusing on accelerating economic growth by improving capital-intensive industries and replacing religious and social traditions with rapid modernization. There are some essential challenges ahead of the common assets administration of the Hyrcanian forests which have many conflicts between including executive associations and regulations. So that, forest policy has been structurally shifted in policy sector, from private administration to governmental management. This paper has provided a literature review discussing the forest policy administration in Iran and its essential structural shifts during the last century as well as data collection from relevant governmental and private organizations.