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CAIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL & CULTURAL NEWS

08 October 2005

Environmental experts believe that planting forests around Sivand dam, which is the next project of the Energy Ministry in order to balance the humidity of the region, will make the situation worse and will rather increase the humidity of the region, causing gradual destruction of the historical sites nearby.

Authorities of Sivand Dam have recently suggested to plant forest in the area of the dam in order to reduce the humidity of the region, while environmental and ecosystem experts believe that planting trees can not reduce humidity in natural ecosystems.

“Due to the vaporization of trees, forest will not only cause an increase of humidity in the area, but also in a long time term will cause raining. Therefore, planting trees in order to reduce the humidity in a region where humidity will already increase due to the large supply of water at the back of the dam seems absolutely illogical,” says Kazem Nosrati, an expert on planting forests.

But Kahrom, an environmental expert, has an opposing view. He believes that since one of the main problems in the regions where dams are made is the penetration of water into the nearby lands, turning them into swamps, planting nearby areas will help prevent such an issue.

Experts strongly believe that following the penetration of water into the nearby areas of Sivand Dam, the soil will lose its solidity, which will lead to the destruction of the historical sites nearby. However, many believe that planting forests will not solve this problem, because although trees will absorb the humidity of the soil, but they will at the same time, vaporize water into the air, making the climate even more humid.

Some experts have criticized the new Energy Ministry project by noting that it would be better to save the forests already existing nearby Sivand, which with the flooding of the Dam will be ruined, rather than planting new ones. According to environmentalists, such projects will cause serious changes in the soil condition of the region.

Following the news of Sivand Dam in Bolaghi Gorge, Fars province, being inundated in the near future, rumor spread around the world of Pasargadae site being in serious danger of being drowned and destructed. However, experts have announced that the only threat to the world heritage site of Pasargadae is the humidity changes, the extent of which is under study and will influence the decision on the water level of the lake behind the dam.

The construction plan of Sivand Dam began in 1992 and experts and archaeologists have been working round the clock in an international salvation project in the past few months to save some heritage before the dam is inundated in wintertime.

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