By Abdallah el-Kurebe
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has again pleaded with Iranian authorities to release a conservation biologist, Niloufar Bayani, and eight other environmental conservationists, imprisoned in February 2018.
The nine have been sentenced to lengthy jail terms in the Republic of Iran, five years ago.
UNEP, in a statement emailed to ASHENEWS on Monday, took “note of the pardons recently issued by the Iranian authorities” and renewed “its call for clemency and for the safe return home of Ms. Bayani, and indeed all the environmental conservationists imprisoned in Iran.”
UNEP, which recalled that between 2012 and 2017, Ms. Bayani worked as a consultant based out of UNEP’s Geneva office, described her as “a deeply committed and hardworking colleague, Ms. Bayani focused on enhancing the resilience of communities against disasters and climate change.
“This mission took Ms. Bayani to countries including Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Ivory Coast and Sri Lanka. She was also lead author of several UNEP publications that examined how the regulatory functions of ecosystems could provide a buffer against disasters,” the statement reads.
According to UNEP, Ms. Bayani’s heart laid “in conserving Iran’s natural heritage and unique species, which made her return to her home country in 2017 to work on efforts to conserve the Persian or Asian Cheetah, one of the most endangered large cat species in the world.
Ms. Bayani was arrested in February 2018 along with other internationally, recognized experts in the field of nature conservation.
“Our natural world is under tremendous pressure. The triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste, threatens to erode decades of progress on poverty reduction and sustainable development.
“Environmental conservationists are critical allies in protecting the rights of current and future generations to a clean, health and sustainable environment. We cannot build a better future without them,” the statement further reads.
UNEP said it will continue to plea for the release of Ms. Bayani and other conservationists on humanitarian grounds.
