RAHANA – In Ashura and Tasua 2009, more than 3750 trees were cut down resulting in 314 acres of forest to disappear in Lorestan according to province’s environmental chief Ahmad Reza Kalantari.
Every year, religious delegations in Lorestan cut down thousands of trees to provide kindling for the bonfires on Ashura and Tasua. During the ceremonies, men roll over in mud, drying themselves by gathering around a bonfire before flagellating themselves on the last day of the Ashura mourning period, which commemorates the seventh century slaying of Prophet Mohammed’s grandson Imam Hussein in Karbala
In 2006, 3000 trees were illegally cut down on Ashura and Tasua in the Lavizan Forest Park near Tehran. The incident and its environmental impact on air pollution in Tehran forced the Tehran Natural Resources Office to press charges against the city.
New road constructions, often done without proper environmental risk assessment studies, are another major reason behind forest disappearance in Iran. Despite legislation which bans construction of industrial parks or mining activities in preserved areas, government and private sector developers often bend the regulations in their favour.

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